We Can Burn Brighter Than the Sun
by FinchelForever1218
Summary: Of course her idiot ex-boyfriend would bring one of his frat boy clients to her for help after a drug deal gone wrong...He knows she doesn't want to be involved, yet with this client he's dragging her into something deep, really deep. AU
1. Prologue

A/N: Hey guys! I have decided to start a new story. No, it's not the sequel to Something Borrowed—don't worry I haven't abandoned that—but I hope you all like this new Finchel fic. Cheating won't really be involved, unlike my other stories, so don't worry! It's going to angsty...Hope you enjoy! Review with your comments, concerns, etc..

Title of story from Fun's "We are Young" ("We Can Go Brighter Than The Sun")

Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or any of the songs that will be put into this fan fic.

_Prologue_

Rachel cleaned up the mess that she and her boyfriend, Puck, made during dinner. Takeout from the deli—Castillo Deli ("Castle" Deli)—they lived above in Hunts Point (Bronx) was a regular occurrence for them, since it was all they really could afford with Rachel's salary working at Alberstein's and Puck's salary doing...well, never mind.

She glanced around the tiny hole they called home and sighed, hating what had become of her life. When she left her hometown, Lima, Ohio, when she was only seventeen, she had dreams. No, she couldn't dream, couldn't even think about it, since she had to focus on merely surviving.

Rachel came to New York City, opting to skip the college scene and go straight to auditioning for yes, Broadway. As long as she could remember, her biggest dream was to make it on the Great White Way. And yet, here she was, acting as a cashier at a deli in one of the worst areas in New York City.

Hunts Point was well known for it's crime, prostitution, and "lucrative drug trade." Luckily, the real estate was cheap, so when Rachel realized that she wasn't going to make it big like she had hoped, she was forced to seek refuge in the projects.

The first time she set foot in Hunts Point, she met Noah "Puck" Puckerman, a young man who had been born and raised in Hunts Point. He helped her find a cheap apartment and even a job, at a deli that he had "connections" with.

She didn't find out those connections until they started dating five months later.

You see, that "lucrative drug trade" was in fact accurate, with the drug lord being Pablo Castillo a.k.a. owner of the deli Rachel worked out. Those "connections" Puck had spoken of were deadly—he was a dealer for the Lafayette Reyes, or the Lafayette Kings, a play on Lafayette Avenue in Hunts Point.

The Lafayette Reyes was one of the most violent gangs in NYC, with its main characteristic being its control of the drug traffic in the Bronx, Brooklyn, and parts of Manhattan. They pretty much controlled everything in the Bronx, especially Hunts Point since that's where Pablo decided to live.

Rachel didn't know about the gang at first, but she slowly gained knowledge about it before dating Puck. A few weeks after she had moved in, her neighbor, Mrs. Hernandez, came pounding on her door after Puck had just left her apartment. She sweared in Spanish—although Rachel couldn't understand really because she was Jewish—as she checked her for bruises. Mrs. Hernandez furiously looked around her apartment, and then quickly apologized. Rachel asked her why, and Mrs. Hernandez shamefully admitted that she was making sure she wasn't living next to another hooker for Castillo's people. She wanted to make sure Puck hadn't beaten her or drugged her. Rachel tried to get more information from that, but Mrs. Hernandez quickly shut her mouth and ran back into her apartment.

When people came into the deli and asked for certain orders with a giddy expression, she realized that the deli was a drug front. Sometimes, people would disappear in the back and never come out. She didn't question it. Once she and Puck started dating, he explained the gang to her—not that he was an actual member/dealer of it.

Three months after they started dating, she caught him with bags of cocaine in his coat pocket and demanded that he go to rehab. He quickly told her that he was just selling it, and then realized his error—he had told her he was a drug dealer. They had a long talk after that, and she begrudgingly stayed with him because she knew that she loved him and that he wasn't a bad person.

She then guessed other things too. Her apartment was only so cheap because Puck asked Pablo for a favor, same with her job. She never asked him how he paid Pablo back, but she really didn't want to know. Those men that flanked Castillo the few times he sat in the diner, those were his bodyguards. There were so many red flags, that she knew she was stupid for not realizing it the first time she went to Hunts Point.

She shook her head. She couldn't think of what-ifs. She was nineteen now, and she should be lucky that she was living in NYC, sort of financially stable and had a boyfriend whom she was now living with, even if he was a drug dealer. Her fathers never forgave her for leaving and not going to college, and she hadn't talked to them since, so she didn't have to deal with the nagging parents thing, right—wrong.

Her thoughts were disrupted when said drug dealer came bursting in the apartment.

"Hey babe," Rachel said, "How was um, well, you know?"

She still didn't say "work" like what he did was a job. It was a disgusting profession that feasted on the addictions of others, but Puck insisted that he was only doing it for some cash until he could find something better—that was a year and a half ago, so she assumed that, that had changed.

He ignored her and went straight to the fridge to get a beer. She stopped him on his way to the couch and said, "Noah, what's wrong?"

"Nothing Rach, I just, I need to just rest, god," Puck growled.

"What happened?" Rachel asked, concerned. He usually opened up to her about his "job" but lately he hadn't been as revealing about it.

"Look Rachel, I do this so that way one day you'll get your little dream and be a big fucking star, so for now, just let me have some peace from your goddamn big mouth," Puck shouted as he turned on the TV.

She grimaced, tears pooling in her eyes, "I hate when you act like this, Noah. I know your upset because of the gang, but you can't take out your aggression on me. And lately, it's been happening more and more."

Suddenly, she heard gunshots.

Noah quickly jumped up of the couch and ran over to her, "Rachel, get on the ground now."

She did what she was told, and then felt his body over hers. She heard the crack of their window, and with that, the little tears turned into full on sobs. "What? What's happening?" Rachel cried.

"Better watch your back, Puckerman," a man yelled from the street by their window, "We don't need any Jews as kings anyway!"

"Noah, what is going on?" Rachel yelled, pushing herself out from under Puck, knowing that the danger was gone, for now.

He stood up next to her, still glancing nervously at the window, refusing to make eye contact with her.

"What happened tonight?" Rachel pleaded.

"For the past couple of weeks, I've been working on a deal with that frat at Columbia, you know Pike?" he paused, and when she nodded, continued, "Well me and some of the guys brought a lot of drugs for one of their parties, you know, as sort of a tester. They were supposed to pay us, but they haven't yet, and now they're denying that they even took the drugs. They're even threatening to expose some of us to the police, like me, Pedro, Matt, Santana, Brittany, and Sugar."

"Why Brittany, Sugar, and Santana?" Rachel asked, concerned. She may not know the girls well, but they seemed nice enough, well Sugar was kind of odd, but still.

"They were hired also for the party, you know, the entertainment part," Puck said.

"Baby, why'd you do this? I thought you weren't trying to be directly part of it anymore? I thought you were close to getting out," she replied.

"It's a little more complicated than that..." Puck drawled.

"You promised me that you weren't going to do this forever. That you weren't going to ruin other people's lives forever."

"It's not like that!" Puck argued.

Rachel fumed, "Oh, so you just sell poor people with addictions drugs that could kill them? Or just satisfy their addictions?"

"If they don't get them from me, they'll get them from someone else," Puck yelled.

"That doesn't mean it has to be you! It's still wrong, and I know, or at least I thought I knew, that you were a better person than that," Rachel shouted.

"Rach, this is my life, for good. I can't get out, and even if I could, I don't know if I want to," Puck lowered his voice.

"Wait, what?" Rachel stopped yelling.

"It's good money, and if we want to get married and have a family one day, this is it for me. With more experience, I'll be higher up and that means big money. And if you want to live in Manhattan and go on Broadway and all that shit, then this is what I have to do," Puck sighed.

"I can't have a family with someone who does what you do for a living, Noah," Rachel said, "And this isn't 'it' for you. You're a very talented musician, or you could go to college, or something. I don't need to live in Manhattan to be on Broadway, I just need your love and support. But I can't be with you if this is what you want to be doing for the rest of your life."

"What do you mean Rachel?" Puck choked.

"I think we should break up Noah," Rachel said, "I'm sorry, I just can't live this life anymore. You need to clean up your life, but you're not willing to do that as long as I'm with you I guess."

"Rach..." he groaned, "Don't do this, you're making a big fucking mistake."

She looked down, tears now streaming down her face. She loved him, but it wasn't enough to accept everything else.

"Fuck this noise, I'm out of here," Puck said, "I'll pick up my shit later." He walked toward the door as Rachel's sobs grew louder and louder.

He slammed the door, and Rachel almost rushed out to beg for him back, but she couldn't. She couldn't deal with the fact that he didn't see anything wrong with what he was doing.

Eventually, she stopped crying, and knew that her life was better without Noah Puckerman holding her down. Maybe she'd start auditioning again. She just knew that she needed this to push her to start living her life the right way again.

It was time for her to start dreaming again.

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><p>Puck stormed down the stairs of what used to be his apartment. He tried to be as invisible as possible while passing the deli, but it was to no avail. Thad, one of Pablo's thugs, suddenly appeared out of nowhere. He quickly punched Puck, and grabbed him, taking him to the alley right by the deli. As Puck tried to free himself, more Kings came out and started attacking him to the ground.<p>

"Come on guys, you don't need to do this," Puck yelled through the beating, his vision getting blacker and blacker. He felt his mouth fill with blood, and cursed the mother fucker who had kicked his mouth.

"I think he's good," Thad said, "Carlos, Josh, bring him to the back."

He was yanked through the back door to the "Principal's Office" as gang members sometimes called it.

Puck struggled more, through all of his pain, but he couldn't escape the burly men who had a tight

"It's no use Yid, you're outnumbered, haven't I taught you anything?" a distinctively Spanish accent voiced from the darkened room, "Let him go."

Puck became more and more fearful as the eyes of Pablo Castillo burned into him.

"All of you leave now, except for Puckerman," Pablo ordered, "I'll take care of this."

"Do you understand why you're here?" Pablo asked, looking like a king on a throne once the lights were turned on.

"Yes, sir," Puck stammered, trying to not sound nervous.

"Don't piss yourself, pussy, take this like a man," Pablo laughed evilly, "So here's the problem, you screwed this entire organization out of a lot of money to some pansy ass club at an Ivy. Now, my boy Pedro is in a lot of danger and some of my favorite gals are too. Rutherford, he's replaceable anyway, but not my son, I won't let him go down."

"This is how it is, you need to take care of this little mishap. Who were the guys you talked to originally?" Pablo asked.

"Uh, Sam Evans, and, uh, and, Finn Hudson," Puck rattled off, lucky he had remembered the names.

"Which one is in charge?"

"Finn Hudson, I think," Puck said.

"Take care of him, get my money, and I won't harm that little Yenta of yours," Pablo commanded, "Now get out of here pito."

Puck quickly left the office and decided to head to his ma's house. He'd crash there for a little bit and figure out what to do with this Hudson kid.

And hopefully get Rachel back.

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><p>AN: So that's the Prologue...It's short, but it gets the story up and running! I hope you enjoyed it! This is Finchel, by the way. Please review with you comments, questions, etc. Rumor Has It is still going to happen, for Something Borrowed readers!

Note: The racial slurs used in this are not my own opinions. Also, if you are from Hunts Point, I am sorry if this offended you at all. This is all purely fiction, and the research I gathered portrays Hunts Point as an area with lots of crime and prostitution. The gang is modeled after the Latin Kings, which is said to be the largest Hispanic street gang in the US. Hunts Point has one of the largest concentrations of Hispanics in NYC, so when choosing some of the main parts of the gang, it made sense to make it Hispanic because the location was predominately that. This isn't meant to reflect my personal opinions/beliefs or anything, so please don't get offended.

Thanks!


	2. Chapter 1

A/N: Wow guys thanks for the great response for the first chapter! I'm really excited about this story! Ok, well on with the chapter!

Chapter title from Fleetwood Mac's "Never Going Back Again"

Disclaimer: Nope, I don't own Glee...

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><p>Chapter 1- "I'm Never Going Back Again"<p>

It had been three weeks since Rachel had broken up with her boyfriend about a year and a half, and instead of being unhappy, she was on fire. She'd started auditioning again, and just had a callback for an off-Broadway show a few days ago. As soon as she landed a better job, she'd quit her job at the deli, find an apartment in another area, and get out of Hunts Point for good.

She knew she had it in her to be the fearless young woman that she once was. She once sent a girl to a crack house for almost upstaging her (of course, it never happened, she was the greatest after all). When her best friend, Kurt, almost lost the class election, she stuffed the ballot box in his favor and he won—luckily they didn't think to much about the fact that there were more votes than people...Too bad she lost contact with him once she left for NYC...Anyway, basically, she used to be a total BAMF (in an incredibly classy and appropriate way) and she needed to get back to that point. Dumping Puck and eventually getting out of the hell hole that was Hunts Point was maybe all she really needed to become herself once more.

Rachel put popcorn in the microwave and prepared for a quiet movie night. The many auditions she'd been doing—and the maybe off-Broadway gig—had been stressing her out, so she decided to relax and unwind with some of her favorite movies—_West Side Story _and _Pretty Woman. _

She knew it was late to start watching movies, like really late, but she wasn't tired and she didn't have anything to do the next day anyway, so why shouldn't she watch movies by herself at one in the morning?

The microwave dinged, signaling that her delicious vegan popcorn was ready. Before she could get it out though, she heard a knock at the door.

Cautiously, she looked through the peephole. Sometimes, random druggies and hookers would come to the door, and typically, she really wished it had been them instead of who it was.

"What the hell are you going here?" she glared.

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><p>Puck had been wondering for the last few weeks when he was going to confront the Finn go for screwing them over with all the drugs. He'd been asking around NYC about the leader of that asswipe frat and had found out some pretty useless things.<p>

One, Finn Hudson was a trustfund kid, of course. The only reason he was even within 10 feet of Columbia was because his Columbia alum daddy had made some pretty big donations during Finn's senior year of high school, and that looked pretty "impressive" on his app. His dad was Christopher Hudson, one of the richest men in New York City. Christopher was an entrepreneur from old money or something...

Two, he was the main bitch in charge at the frat, as well as big man on campus—quarterback for the Columbia Lions football team, head of the "coolest" frat on campus, and a complete player in the ladies department.

Finally, he learned that Finn was a big tool, which he already had figured with the way he refused to pay for the drugs and was blackmailing them...

He scratched his mohawk, figuring out when the best time was to strike. Tonight could be good, since he also found out that the frat was having another party. People would be to drunk to see Puck go in, take Finn outside, and beat the fucker into oblivion until he agreed to pay up. Once he had the money, he'd be back in with Castillo, and therefore alive for a little bit longer...

But did he really want to be back in? Maybe he could use this a final way to get out. He did want Rachel back, he really did, but he didn't know how to give up a job in NYC that was such good money, even in one of the crappiest places in America.

He shook his head, remembering to focus on what was going to go down tonight. He would go alone, so that way he couldn't bring anyone else into this. If he got arrested alone, the drugs could just fall on him, so then, all of his friends involved could maybe be let of the hook.

Puck's plan was to go to the party, hit on a few ladies, you know, to look the part of a college student at a party, and then get Finn drunk enough for Puck to easily yank him outside. He could probably get the idiot outside without getting him drunk, but that was the plan for now. Once outside, presumedly in an alley, Puck would first tell him that he needed to pay, and then beat him up until he agreed.

It seemed like a great plan to Puck, until he actually put it into action.

When he got to the party, he did all the right things. He laughed with random students, he flirted with some girls, and he chugged one or two beers. When he saw Hudson, he made sure to control his emotions. It was his fault that Castillo was pissed at him and that Rachel broke up with him. If Castillo was never mad at him, he wouldn't have shot up their apartment and then made Rachel overreact and break up with him.

His blood was boiling as he saw Finn smirk at some super hot blonde chick. Finn wrapped an arm around her without a care in the world, as if he hadn't practically destroyed someone's life. He kept his eye on him for the rest of the night, until at midnight the opportunity just presented itself—Finn went outside by himself.

Puck moved fast, detaching himself from some skank to go get Finn. When he saw Finn leaning against the wall of one of the dorms, smoking, he ran over to him.

"Hudson, can we talk?" Puck drawled.

"Oh, you're the loser who gave us all those free drugs last week...Thanks, by the way, those got a lot of the guys in the house laid that night," Finn said before blowing smoke around them.

Puck grabbed the cigarette from Finn's mouth and stepped on it, putting it out, "Well, losers like me don't like little rich jackasses who think it's ok to just screw us out of money."

Finn smirked and grabbed a twenty from his back pocket, "There, that should take care of whatever whore you're paying for tonight, or the monthly rent for your shack." He threw the money at Puck's face and laughed.

Puck's eyes blazed, and before Finn could even register what was happening, Puck punched him in the forehead. Quickly, Puck continued to punch his face. Once Finn was on the ground, Puck kicked him around his ribs. Puck shoved the twenty in Finn's mouth and said, "Here, add this to what you owe me for the drugs, dickface."

When Finn tried to get back up, Puck kicked him again, harder and in the jaw. When Finn's head turned sharply, he went limp. "Agree or I'll mess up that fetus face of yours," Puck dangerously snarled. He kicked again, this time with no response from Finn.

After a few moments of silence, besides Puck's heavy breathing from all the beating he had just done, he got worried. He kneeled by Finn and shook him, "Finn." With no response, he tried again, "Finn, fucker, wake up. If you're pretending, I'll kill you."

Finn still hadn't woken up, and Puck was freaking out by now. What if he killed him? His fingerprints were all over him and the Hudsons would most definitely investigate the murder of their golden child! Before he could run, a campus security officer came over.

"Sir, is there a problem here?" the guard asked sternly, "Why is this man on the ground?"

"U-uh," Puck stammered—he hated law enforcement.

"Did you do this to him?" the officer pressed.

He improvised, remembering what Rachel had blabbered about when she took a few acting classes at Bronx Community College, "Me? Awh hellz no...Finny's my boy, he just had a little too much to drink tonight. You know, Finn Hudson, a.k.a. quarterback Finn Hudson?" He added that so that way the officer would forget about the drinking age thing and the bruises that were forming on his face. "He, uh, he hit the sidewalk when he blacked out, so that's why he's all bloody. He was partying so hard earlier!"

"Oh, oh," the officer backed off, "Well, I will see to it that you and Mr. Hudson get home safely if you want."

"No, no, I'm just going to take him back to one of our friend's houses in the Bronx," he said, "So, we'll just take the bus."

"No, that won't do. I'll call you guys a cab now, I have one service right here on speed dial," the officer said firmly, "Mr. Hudson needs proper transportation, I mean, not the bus..."

Puck grimaced, hoping to just leave the annoying officer and dump Finn back at the party, "Um, ok."

Fifteen minutes later, a cab pulled up and Puck shoved Finn inside. Puck gave him directions to the place he figured they could go, and he was told the price. Shit, he didn't have any money. So, when the cabbie wasn't looking, Puck searched Finn's pockets for a wallet, and grabbed some cash. Sure, he may have taken a few extra twenties than needed for the ride, but Finn didn't need to know that.

"Here you go," the cab said. Puck paid him with Finn's cash and dragged Finn out toward the apartment building.

He passed the deli quickly, and luckily, no one saw him. Getting up the stairs wasn't too much of a challenge, except for the random people on the stairs that were either a) asking for money, b) smoking pot, or c) making out. Finally, he got up to the apartment he wanted and forcefully knocked on the door.

"What the hell are you doing here?" was the first thing his ex said to him since they had broken up.

"Nice to see you too, baby," Puck said, pushing past her, Finn's body draped on his.

"One, don't call me baby Puckerman, and two, what's going on?" Rachel asked, "Why is there a man hanging off of you? What did you do?"

"I kinda screwed up," Puck sighed, "Remember that deal, well I kinda had to confront this douche right here because he was in charge of the frat. I guess I lost control and roughed him up too much...He's unconscious and the campus security guard caught me with him so I pretended that I was his friend and he had blacked out from drinking."

"So you brought him here because...?" Rachel glared.

"I need you to fix him up," Puck said, dropping Finn on Rachel's couch, "If he goes back to the frat like this, people might ask questions and when he wakes up, he'll mention me. I figure if he doesn't look beaten up, he can't accuse me of doing anything."

"Why would I do that for you? I'd only be encouraging your horrific lifestyle choice," Rachel growled, looking at Finn's large body on her couch.

"Look, I know you don't support my work for some reason, but I need you to do this for me. This could be the first step in getting out," Puck semi-lied. He wasn't sure if he wanted out, but fixing Finn up to get the money could be part of the way out. He saw Rachel's tough exterior crack. She softened and almost smiled.

"Oh, well that's great Puck. You, trying to fix your life up, that's extremely admirable. I'm actually trying to do the same," Rachel grinned, "And I guess, since you did help me get set up here all those years ago, I should help you get ready to start a new, better chapter of your life."

"Thanks Rach," Puck grinned, "And maybe you could be apart of that too."

"Oh, um, well let's not talk about that right now, Noah," she said and he smiled at the use of the name she used to call him while they were together, "But, if I'm going to mend his wounds, I'm going to need you to go get some stuff. I know it's late, but the drug store is still open, so could you go get some gauze, rubbing alcohol, and neosporin. And then I think you should come back in the morning and see how he is. He's not, violent, right?"

"Oh naw, he should be fine. Maybe I could get him something else to make him happy. I do know a guy," Puck joked.

"Too soon, please just go get the stuff and then leave," Rachel grumbled.

Puck laughed and left, leaving Rachel alone with the nameless stranger that Puck had beaten up.

There was a lot of blood, she realized. It sort of grossed her out and infuriated her that Puck did this to this man, but Puck was trying to get better, so she had to help him. She got a rag to start wiping of the dried blood on his forehead and jaw. He was actually quite handsome, even with the now forming bruises. His dark chestnut hair was messy, and full, unlike Noah's irritating mohawk that she never could really run her hands through. She couldn't see his eye color because his eyes were shut, but she guessed they were dark brown. She looked at him more intensely and it made her wonder what he looked like pre-beating.

'No,' she thought, 'Stop thinking that, just get back to helping Noah.' She ignored her girlish thoughts and started looking for a spare shirt for him. His Ralph Lauren polo shirt was stained with blood, so she needed to take that off to evaluate the degree of his injuries everywhere and not just his face. Luckily, she found one of Puck's shirts from when they were living together in her closet and kept it nearby so Puck wouldn't get the wrong idea when he got back.

She slowly started peeling the shirt off of the tall guy. She was nervous for some reason, why should didn't know. Her fingers tingled as she felt his skin for the first time, and she inadvertently started tracing the outline of his well-defined abs as she brought the shirt up.

When the shirt was completely off, she couldn't stop the blush forming on her face. Sure, she had seen Puck naked before, but he was familiar, normal to her. For some reason, this man in front of her was affecting her physically, more so than Puck ever did before they had sex. She licked her lips as she took in his chest, along with his very muscular biceps. He was tattooless, she noticed with a small smile. She had always hated tattoos, and that was sort of a turn off with Puck.

Stopping herself from thinking about this stranger sexually any further, she used the rag to wipe the blood off of his stomach. She frowned at the gashes that were on the side of his torso. Puck really kicked him hard.

Puck let himself in, using the spare key that she kept forgetting to move. "Hey Rach, so I got the stuff, and whoa, what the fuck is going on here?"

Rachel moved her hand and the rag from the guy's stomach and said, "Oh, um, erm, nothing. I'm just wiping the cuts on his stomach, you know, because you kicked him there."

"Oh yeah, cos' using your drool to clean up the blood is going to disinfect it," he quipped.

"Ewe, gross, just hand me the rubbing alcohol," she glared.

"As long as you don't use it to rub something else, I'm fine," Puck grumbled.

"What? That doesn't even make any sense, ugh, whatever. Just hand me that and another rag from the kitchen. Also the gauze, so I can start wrapping it right after," she said, concentrated on helping Finn.

He handed her the stuff, to which she replied, "OK, you may leave now. Just because I'm helping you doesn't mean you can stay the night."

Puck nodded dejectedly and left. She started gently dabbing the spots on his head with the alcohol, hoping to rid the injuries of any bacteria. She then wrapped some gauze around his forehead and put a bandaid she had lying around on the spot on his jaw—it wasn't as serious as the one on his forehead. Carefully, she started wrapping his torso, trying to avoid "accidentally" touching his abs again. Of course, that was practically impossible, so she gave up and allowed her fingers to rejoice in the sparks that were radiating off of his body.

Wait, what was his name anyway? Puck could have at least told her that much, but it didn't matter anyway. He wasn't really anything to her, well at least, she couldn't admit that he was a little something too her. So she might have had a physical attraction to him, so what? On an mental level, he was probably some conceited jerk. She did wonder if he could sing though...

Rachel finished wrapping his torso and pushed him up so she could put his shirt on. She allowed herself to glance a bit—a lot—at his nicely sculpted back muscles and quickly pushed the shirt over his head. After putting his incredibly fit arms, as she had noticed multiple times now, in a shirt, and pulled it down toward his torso, softly over the gauze.

She was happy he hadn't regained consciousness yet, as explaining this to him might be a little awkward. Rachel did worry though, that he could have a concussion, but she couldn't really do anything until he woke up.

As she put a blanket over him, he grunted a bit, and that gave Rachel some relief. She knew that being knocked out was a serious issue, that could result in serious brain damage. What if Puck had seriously hurt this man? Suddenly, the guy's head popped up, "What's going on?"

Rachel decided to lie a little bit to get him to sleep some of the pain off, "Um, you're just having a bad dream. Go to sleep?" She hoped that would work and luckily it did. Instead of being unconscious, he was now sleeping, which made Rachel incredibly happy. He was going to be OK—probably...

As she glanced at his now comfortably sleeping form, her heart thudded violently. His eyes were an incredibly nice shade of brown and even half-way open, they looked incredibly kind. His voice had a tingling, raspy quality to it that sent heat down to her core. She made herself leave his side on the couch and retreat to her bedroom, where she started freaking out.

Her heart was thumping because of a man she had never talked to whom Puck had beaten up because of some serious drug deal problem.

What was she getting herself into? Wasn't she supposed to be getting out?

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><p>AN: Sorry to end there, but the next chapter...Oh I'm actually super excited about the next chapter! The next update might be a little while though, so I thought I should get this part out. Hint, chapter title is "I Was Enchanted to Meet You." Also, so yes, a punch that makes a person go unconscious would most likely cause some brain damage, but in this story, it isn't that serious so since it is fiction, I am asking you to separate the fact from it. Thanks! Please review with your comments! Also, do any of you guys think that the drug/gang stuff is too M for T? Or do you want me to make it M because of the sexual tension with Rachel and Finn (and you want it to develop more)..Please review with comments on that because I was worried whether or not this story is too mature for teens. I mean, I am a teen, but I mean, for younger people! Thanks!


	3. Chapter 2

A/N: Hey guys! Hope you all enjoyed that last chapter...I changed it to M because it is going to get more violent from here (later on of course) and well, if I do decide to do smut (which most likely won't happen because I've never written that before...Unless you count for like a second in my Puckleberry fic), it would have to be M. This chapter was fun to write!

Chapter lyrics from Taylor Swift's "Enchanted"

* * *

><p><em>Chapter 2 "I Was Enchanted to Meet You"<em>

Finn decided to pretend to be asleep.

He had no idea what was going on, but he woke up in some trashy apartment with an intense pounding in his jaw and a weird pain in his side. Funny, he never felt like that after a normal hangover...

Wait, he remembered. He had gone outside to take a smoke and to detangle himself from his girlfr—thing, Quinn, whatever she was, and then that loser that gave them those drugs a few weeks ago came and cornered him. He could recall getting kicked and punched all over, and then he was knocked out.

But how did he get here?

When he heard two people talking, he quickly closed his eyes. One of the voices was familiar, maybe it was, yeah Puck, said loser. The other was a girl, and for some reason, his stomach started flipping as he heard her sparkling laughter.

"He's not up yet, can you go get some breakfast or something?" the girl asked Puck. Was she his girlfriend or something? He didn't know why that made his heart drop.

"Sure, but if the fucker wakes up, go lock yourself in that room or whatever until I get back. He's a douche, so who knows his policy about violence with women," Puck growled in his direction.

Asshole.

"I'm sure I'll be fine, he looks anything but violent," the girl replied. He inwardly blushed.

"Look, just call me if he wakes up OK? This Finn guy could be bad, and I can't stand the thought of something happening to you because I brought all of this on you," Puck said back.

"You're sweet," the girl sighed, "But seriously, I'm fine. I can take care of myself."

Then there was silence and he heard a door shut. Finn started decided how to get himself out of here without being noticed, wherever "here" was. He could feel his phone and wallet in his pants, so at least he had a communication device and money. Why did Puck bring him here anyway? Was this like those stories his mom was always telling him about street kids and drug dealers and wealthy people?

OK, so she never told him stories about that, but he did recall some stuff about drug dealers taking some of their customers hostage or whatever!

Suddenly, the most beautiful sound he would probably ever hear broke him from his thoughts. The girl was singing "Smile" by Charlie Chaplin, a personal favorite of his. Her incredible voice made his pants grow tight, awkwardly—he didn't even know what she looked like! And his heart started beating frantically...He had to get out of this place fast!

The singing stopped and he heard her come closer to him. She started rubbing his forehead, and he'd be lying if her fingers touching him didn't do something to him too. What else could she rub like that?

When she stopped rubbing his forehead, he made the rash decision to open his eyes.

"Oh thank goodness, you're up!" the girl said with relief.

He sat up and got a good look at the siren—although he wished he hadn't. She was totally hot, wait, no beautiful, and he didn't throw that word out often. She was probably the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen, but not in the traditional way. Her nose was large, but her face was small. Her warm, chocolate brown eyes looked like they were scanning his soul and he hoped she liked what she found—he didn't know why he cared. She smiled at him, and the flipping in his stomach started again, but at full force.

"Hello Finn, I'm Rachel, Rachel Berry," she said, extending a hand for him to shake.

"Um, what's going on here?" he asked, ignoring her hand and the pull that was coming from it. He couldn't let her distract him, he needed to get out of there.

"Well...You sort of got in a spat with my friend, Noah, and so he brought you here so I could 'nurse' you back to health," she sighed, "I'm incredibly sorry for his actions, but as you can see, he did try to help you in the end."

"What are you, the hooker he got for last night?" he asked, going into defensive mode. So she was Puck's friend. Well, that meant she was probably as bad as he was, so he could have fun messing with her a bit.

She dropped her hand suddenly and her face hardened, "No, actually, I do not partake in those illegal activities."

"Opps," Finn said. Shit, that meant she was Puckerman's girlfriend.

"Look, Noah's going to be back with breakfast in a little bit, so if you would like to go take a shower and wait for him, I left some cleaner clothes for you in the bathroom. I have to change your gauze and check to make sure you aren't still bleeding," she hastily replied.

"Oh, this place at least has running water..." Finn sighed snottily.

"Excuse me!" Rachel yelled.

"Rachel, I just need to get back to the Upper East Side, have you heard of it? So if you could let me go...We could skip the pleasantries that aren't really necessary since we're never going to see each other again," Finn said. He needed to get out of here, now. This girl was making him feel things he had never felt before and he didn't like it one bit.

"Well I'm sorry for being hospitable! Maybe you should learn some manners Finn whatever your last name is! You act like you're better than Noah and me just because your a rich boy who has never had to work for anything in his life, well you're not. I've only talked to you for a few minutes and I can already tell that you're an awful person! So yes you may go and see your snobby ass out yourself!" Rachel huffed and stormed off.

He was shocked as she left...and a little hurt. Finn quickly went and slammed the door on his way out. As he got outside, he saw a pretty unsafe neighborhood. He thanked the Lord that his iPhone wasn't dead and decided to check where the hell he was.

Oh shit, his GPS told him he was in Hunts Point, one of the most dangerous places in NY. Now, he was a tough guy, but he had limits. He wasn't interested in getting mugged by some lowlifes who couldn't make it out of this hellhole, so he was happy that he scored a cab.

As he made his way out of the bad area, he thought back to Rachel. Who was she to say all those things to him? Sure, he was an ass to her, but how would she know that's what he's normally like?

'Psh, who cares,' he thought to himself, 'She's just some random girl who you'll never see again.'

He knew he was lying to himself, but he didn't want to think about that at the moment.

* * *

><p>Rachel was fuming. How dare he insult her like that after she took care of him? And to think she was attracted to him...Well, she still was attracted to him physically, but mentally, she was completely turned off.<p>

He was incredibly tall, which had always been hot to her. He looked even more muscley while standing, and the shirt clung to his body perfectly. She was secretly happy that Noah's shirt was a little to small for him.

His aggravating smirk just made it all complete though. As much as he infuriated her, the smirk did nothing to stop the arousal that was just for him. She hoped she looked OK when he saw her...Obviously she looked trashy if he thought she was a hooker!

'No, stop thinking about Finn. You two come from different worlds and he made that painfully clear earlier. He's a complete asshole...' she thought to herself.

She heard Noah come in and hoped he got good breakfast. "Hey babe, so I got some bagels...Wait, where'd Hudson go?"

Hudson, so that was his last name...It sounded familiar.

"Oh, well he had a class to get to," Rachel lied, "And I couldn't keep him from his studies...So I let him go."

"On a Sunday? Weird. Shit, I missed my chance," Noah said, taking bagels and cream cheese (with some vegan cream cheese for Rachel) out of a bag.

"Chance for what?" Rachel asked.

"I was going to try to talk to him some more, make him see that he needed to pay up," Noah sighed, "I mean, if I don't get that money, I'm dead...And so is he. Castillo won't just let the debt go, he'll retaliate, worse than I did," Noah replied as he spread some cream cheese on a bagel.

Rachel shuddered, "Well, you'll get the money. I'm sure Finn Hudson will see reason. Maybe we could go talk to him again...I could go with you, to prevent you from doing anything violent." She chewed her bagel with vegan cream cheese and hoped that she was right...

"Yeah, maybe that'd be a good idea," Puck said, "Maybe we could go back up there Tuesday...If I keep bothering him, he'll eventually toss up the money!"

Rachel nodded, happy that she didn't work on Tuesdays at the deli. She really hoped Finn saw it from Noah's perspective...though that didn't meant she was excited to see him again. He hopefully would give them the money tonight, or at least eventually.

If not, she didn't want to think about the consequences.

* * *

><p>It had been a few days since his encounter with Rachel and he'd been unable to get her out of his mind. Not just the conversation they had, but also just her, physically, in general. Every morning, he'd wake and have to clean the sheets because of <em>interesting <em>dreams about her, and he found it unusual that he already so attracted to her after only meeting her once.

His frat brothers had started to notice too. They were constantly asking their leader what was wrong and he just couldn't tell them—because he didn't know. What was it about Rachel Berry that was so enticing? Sure she was supermodel fit, was incredibly gorgeous, and completely off-limits, and OK, so yeah that's what was so enticing. It wasn't her voice or the way she seemed to care so much about others or anything...

Finn had started hooking up with Quinn (Quinn Fabray), his clingy fuck buddy twice as much as normal in order to stop thinking about Rachel so much. When Quinn went down on him though, he couldn't help himself from envisioning Rachel's big mouth instead.

But also, he couldn't get what she said to him out of his head. He didn't like the fact that she thought he was a bad person. Actually, it was almost like he craved for her to think he was a wonderful person. A knock at his door broke him out of his thoughts.

"Hey, uh Finn," Rory, one of the newest members of Pike, "You have some visitors."

"Let them in," Finn said, wondering who it would be. He would have figured Quinn, but Rory said visitors...Unless he was just misunderstanding his accent again.

"Hudson."

"What are you doing here Puck?" Finn asked, and then when he saw Rachel's tiny figure come from behind him, he added, "With my little nurse..."

Puck's eyes blazed at that comment, but Rachel put a comforting hand on his arm to calm him down. They shared a look, and Finn grew queasy.

"We're here to talk," Rachel kindly said, "Like civilized adults."

"I really need you to pay the money, Finn," Puck pleaded, although by his face, it looked like it pained him to do it, "My boss is threatening to hurt me if I don't get the money."

Finn actually felt bad for a second, until he remembered that Puck was an ass who beat him up, so the feeling went away. "I already said no."

"Look, Mr. Hudson, we really would appreciate if you paid the money you do. It would be the honorable thing to do, plus Noah is in extreme danger. His boss is Pablo Castillo, maybe you've heard of him...The biggest gangster in NYC. He's threatening Noah's life and he already had his goons shoot up our window to prove that he wasn't bluffing. So please, for me, if not Noah, give him the money? I mean, I did nurse you back to health," Rachel said. Damn, this girl was good and he actually did feel terrible for holding out on the money.

"I'll give you the money," he said, "On one condition."

"Anything," Puck snapped.

Finn thought this through before he said it. This could lead to Rachel hating him forever and never forgiving...or it could lead to something really good between them. "I'll pay, if I get a date with Rachel," he smirked at her.

She gasped and Puck growled. "I am not a piece of property Finn Hudson! We hereby decline your offer, you know, although I am not on speaking terms with my fathers right now, I can certainly use their legal help in dire circumstances! I understand the shadiness of it all, but-"

Puck interrupted her, "We'll take it."

"What!" she squeaked.

"We accept your condition. Now when are you going to give me the money?" Puck asked.

Finn was struggling for air at this point. Sure, he'd just used bribery to get this date, but it was a dream come true—hopefully literally (his wet dreams...). "Not before. After."

"Hell no," Puck sneered, "You think I'm that much of an idiot?"

"Well..." Finn smirked.

"We'll swap right before the date. You hand me the money, I hand you Rachel," Puck replied.

"I can accept that," Finn smiled and held his hand out for Puck to shake. The two shook hands, oblivious to the pissed of midget.

"Excuse me! Excuse me! I do not agree to this! This is deplorable and illegal! It's prostitution!" Rachel screamed.

"Hey, there's not going to be sex unless you want that to happen, baby," Finn replied.

Puck ignored Finn's remark and said, "Look Rachel, I know this is bad, but come on, you have to do it. For me?"

Finn turned away from Rachel and Puck, hoping they wouldn't start making out or something. Luckily they didn't, and he heard a slap and Rachel storming down the stairs of the frat house. Puck ran after her, and Finn returned to his bed, happy with his accomplishments.

He'd scored a date with Rachel and cause friction with Rachel and Puck's relationship!

Pretty good day...

* * *

><p>"Please talk to me Berry," Puck whimpered as they sat on the subway, "I'm sorry...But my life is at stake here!"<p>

She huffed and turned away from him.

"Come on, you said you wanted me to get out. Well, I need your help to get out!" he said.

Rachel turned back and looked at him, "I would have done it willingly if you had asked. Instead, you just sold me off, like I was your car or something...Of course, you'd treat a car better!"

"Rachel, it's not like that! I'm desperate," Puck sighed.

"You see Puck, that's the thing, I don't know if you are!" Rachel glared, "You talk about wanting to get out, but I just don't see you ever being brave enough to do that! Once this ordeal is over, you'll go back to selling guys like Finn drugs, and it will just be a vicious cycle again...But I won't help you next time. After this, we are seriously done. No more contact, no more nothing." She moved a seat over and put her headphones to her iPod in, making it impossible for him to try to talk to her.

He slumped back in his seat...'What have I done?' he thought.

He was right, what had he done? Not just with Rachel, but with setting up the date with her and Finn. He'd come to regret that later.

* * *

><p>AN: SORRY for the short update...It's more of a filler chapter...WASN'T GLEE AMAZING! GOD THE FINCHEL...I CAN'T EVEN HANDLE! My favorite star in the sky is now Finn Hudson...

Please review with your comments!

Thanks!


	4. Chapter 3

A/N: It seemed like most of y'all liked the last chapter (I hope!)...I love cocky Finn, almost as much as jealous Finn, and almost almost as much as sweetie pie Finn (he's my favorite). Chapter lyrics from "I Do Not Hook Up" by Kelly Clarkson...

Chapter 3-"Oh I Do Not Hook Up"

Rachel handed the customer a number seven carelessly. Typically, she would freak out about the fact that she was handing heroine to someone willingly, but today she just couldn't bring herself to care (a "number seven" was the code for heroine). She was too scared about her date with Finn...and pissed...and angry...and hurt...and excited? Yeah, she didn't want to analyze that particular emotion, but instead focused on how mad she was at Finn and Noah. How could Noah do that too her? And how messed up could Finn be to suggest it?

She felt like she was living in a crappy soap opera!

And to top it all of, the biggest thing she was worried about was what she was going to wear. She didn't know what type of date they were going on, or if she she just wear sweats out of protest!

"Hey Berry, I'll take a number 81," Santana Lopez brought Rachel out of her thoughts.

"Oh hello Santana, one moment," Rachel said, and then yelled, "A number 81 please!"

She was ringing Santana up, when Santana noticed something was wrong.

"Rachel, what's wrong?" Santana asked, "I know we aren't close and all, but even I can tell when someone's super nervous about something."

"Oh, it's just, it's nothing," Rachel sputtered.

"Is this about your hot date?" Santana laughed, "Yeah, that's been the main gossip around here lately. Nice move Puckerman. Sell your ex out for some drug money."

Rachel scoffed, "Yeah, I guess that's all I'm good for."

Santana laughed, "You're alright Berry...Are you nervous about it? What are you going to wear?"

"That's the problem," Rachel said, handing Santana some change, "I don't exactly know."

"You're going out with one of the richest frat boys in New York and you don't know what you're going to wear?" Santana asked incredulously.

"Well, it's not like I even wanted to go on this date in the first place..." Rachel huffed.

"Still, you should dress to impress, even if you are going to date and ditch," Santana said, "Here, come to my place and Brittany and I will help you find something of ours to wear."

"Thank you," Rachel smiled sincerely as she handed Santana her number 81 salad, "What's you address?"

"Just give me your number and I'll text you the details," Santana said, grabbing the bag with the salad and whipping out her phone.

"718-546-1918," Rachel said, "My shift is over in an hour."

"Great. What time is the date?" Santana said, ignoring the people in line telling her to leave already.

"I think he's coming here at seven," Rachel said, "And it's noon now, so just whenever you're free."

"With my job, the hours are pretty lax, so I'll hit you up soon!" Santana yelled as she walked out of the door of the deli, "See yah soon chica."

Rachel smiled about this latest development. Maybe she wouldn't end up looking like a drag queen or a homeless person for this date tonight.

_2 hours later_

Well, at least if she had dressed herself, she wouldn't look like a prostitute (no offense to Santana and Brittany, but...). She'd been having a great time just hanging out with Santana and Brittany, and had really bonded with them, when they decided to get outfits from Santana's for Rachel to wear tonight.

"Santana, I don't think this even covers half of my body!" Rachel laughed, holding a small piece of red, lacy fabric.

"That's the point!" Santana sneered, "We want him to be drooling about your body, not because he's so bored he's asleep."

Rachel gasped, "One, I don't care what he thinks. This is for Noah, not for the perv. And two, my intellect is more than enough to keep him occupied!"

Brittany was confused, "I didn't know you worked at a computer company."

"What?" Rachel asked.

"Nothing, you'll get used to it," Santana said fondly of Brittany. Rachel secretly thought the two were more than just friends.

Brittany just nodded enthusiastically.

"Anyway, what am I going to wear?" Rachel sighed.

"I have an idea," Brittany shouted.

"What is it, Brit?" Santana asked.

"You know that dress you have? Yeah, it's in your closet," Brittany gushed, and somehow knew exactly which one she was talking about because she disappeared in her closet (which was actually huge compared to the rest of the size of the really small apartment).

"This one right?" Santana asked, "You're right. You're a genius."

It was a grey, skin tight, off the shoulder dress, with criss cross straps. The dress had a little area in the back open, almost teasingly open. "That's perfect!" Rachel joyously cheered.

"Let's see how it looks on you, hobbit," Santana said jokingly.

The dress fit her like a glove and looked amazing. "Damn...If I knew you were bi, we'd be doing it by now," Santana smirked.

"Really? It looks good?" Rachel smiled and went to look in the mirror in Santana's bathroom.

"Um hell yeah! I'd tap that," Brittany replied.

"Well it's not like anything is going to happen between Finn and me," Rachel said, almost as if she were convincing herself.

"Please, in that dress, something is going to happen," Santana chuckled.

"Santana!" Rachel yelled, faking anger.

"Let's take that dress off and start thinking about makeup," Brittany laughed.

"I'm thinking minty green smokey eyes, some light pink plush, and plum lipstick, or gloss," Santana drawled.

"Thank you so much for this you guys," Rachel said, "I've never really had girl friends before, unless you count a gay guy."

"Well, consider us your first ones then!" Brittany smiled and hugged her.

"Enough with the sappy shit," Santana sighed, but was smiling still, "Makeup time!"

Rachel just smiled. Maybe this date with Finn wasn't as bad as she thought it was going to be.

… … …

Finn's palms were sweating as he drove up to the familiar apartment. He didn't know why he was so nervous. He never got nervous about dates. Scratch that, Finn Hudson didn't even do dates!

"Calm yourself, Hudson," Finn scolded aloud as he took out the keys from the engine, "You're awesome. You're a sex machine."

He quickly got out of the car, wiping his palms on his pants as he entered the building. Finn looked totally sexy, he hoped, in a white button down that exposed some of his chest (yeah, he was pulling out the big guns for this one). To top it off, he had on jeans, Diesel of course.

Finn ran up the stairs and knocked on her apartment, 3B.

"Hudson," Puck snarled.

"Hey Noah, what's crackin?" Finn smirked.

Puck glared, "Where's the money?"

"Not so fast, where's Rachel?"

"Right here. Calm down boys," Rachel said, coming out of the bedroom.

Both men's jaws dropped when they saw her. "Y-you look beautiful Rachel," Finn smiled.

Puck grunted, "Now where's the money?"

Finn took the money from his wallet, all $3000 of it. It was a lot, he assumed. Not enough to make a dent in his family's account, but enough for Puck to beat him up for it. "There, you can count it if you want. Once Rachel and I leave of course," Finn sighed, still starring at Rachel.

Their eyes finally met and he felt a weird feeling shoot throughout his body. It wasn't physical, although the blood was also rushing south, but it was something else. He smiled again, that lopsided smile that he rarely let show.

She blushed and he let out an inward cry of victory. Rachel was already softening up on him!

The moment ended as quickly as it came. "Alright, let's get this over with," Rachel said.

"Have her home by 10:30! At the latest, 11!" Puck shouted as Finn and Rachel started making their way downstairs.

"Noah, get out of my apartment and stay out of this!" Rachel yelled back.

"Pretty interesting thing to say to your boyfriend," Finn said.

"Noah? He's not my boyfriend...Not anymore at least. We broke up a few weeks before I met you."

"Oh," was all Finn could say. That changed things.

He opened the door to his BMW for her, and heard her mutter, "Well at least he's chivalrous."

When he got in the car, he replied, "Of course I am, my mom raised me right."

She laughed and things started looking up.

"So where are you taking me tonight? A frat party? Some stuffy club?" Rachel asked.

"Well, I am taking you to a special showing of the movie _West Side Story _at the Wallace Theater. Some of my best times as a kid was when my mom, dad, and me went to see movies all together...We were never really together otherwise. After that, well it's a surprise. I want you to get to know me, well the real me, not the cocky bastard who got drugs from your ex-boyfriend," Finn stammered, embarrassed.

Rachel put a hand on his arm, sensing his nervousness, "That sounds lovely Finn! I've always felt a deep connection to Natalie Wood! _West Side Story _is one of my favorite movies! Of course, I've always wanted to be Maria on Broadway..."

"You have the most beautiful voice I've ever heard, so I'm sure that's going to happen," Finn smiled, but then realized his error.

"When did you hear me sing?" Rachel asked, confused.

"I was sort of awake when you were singing 'Smile.'"

"Oh, well thank you Finn," Rachel blushed, "Right now, I just hope one day I'll actually get to perform somehow."

"Wait, what do you do know?" Finn asked.

Rachel lowered her head, "I work at that deli right by my place."

Finn could tell she was semi-ashamed that she did, but he didn't know why. "Why do you seem worried to tell me?"

"It's just, it's not a deli," Rachel sighed, not sure why she was telling him this. She'd revealed more to him than she ever expected. He was just so easy to talk to.

"What do you mean?" Finn pressed.

"You know how Puck sold you those drugs and Pablo is in charge of him? Well he owns the deli, and it's actually how he sells some of his drugs," Rachel couldn't look him after saying it, "I mean, I go on and on about how drug dealers are filthy and disgusting, but I mean, I'm one!"

"Rachel," Finn said, pulling up to the theater, "You're not like them."

"I sell drugs to people, Finn," Rachel said, "I didn't know before I started, since I don't actually put the drugs in the bags, but I hand them to people! I just, I want to quit so badly. I want to get out of my crappy apartment, of Hunts Point all together...But it's impossible!"

"One day, you're going to get out and all of your dreams are going to come true," Finn said solemnly, feeling awful for this poor girl. He felt more for her than he ever had for his high school girlfriend, Harmony, or Quinn, his on again, off again girlfriend thing (now they were just sexual partners...).

"That's easy for you to say Finn. Everything has been handed to you! You have all the opportunities in the world. You go to Columbia for Christ sakes!" Rachel replied.

"Look, that doesn't mean I'm happy with the life I'm living. That doesn't mean I'm a good person! That's what is important. You're an amazing person, Rachel, and I barely know you. I may have a lot of money, but my family hates each other. My dad is always sneaking around, my mom has had a secret boyfriend for year, and my dad running for the Senate is just making it worse...You though, you helped out Puck even though you broke up. You helped me even though you didn't know me. And, you just told me how much you despise what drug dealers do! Once all of the things you want in life—Broadway, out of Hunts Point, maybe a family, I don't know—happen, you'll still be an amazing person because you have all of your past experiences to look on. Now come on, let's go watch a movie," Finn smiled, even though he was actually sobbing inside from what he had just said. He needed to change, to become a better man. If not for himself, then for Rachel because he wasn't so sure he could just have one date with her and be done with it.

Rachel just nodded, even though he could see tears in her eyes.

He had just admitted everything about his life to her, and for the first time, himself.

* * *

><p>Rachel was in awe of Finn. She had come into the date thinking he was some snotty, annoying, emotionless robot, but instead, he was an amazing man.<p>

_West Side Story _was a great bonus to all of that. She kept comparing it to her and Finn, and had to stop herself on multiple occasions because they couldn't ever be more than well, this one date. Right?

"So, did you enjoy the movie?" Finn asked as he wrapped an arm around her.

"I loved it, as usual...Thank you, Finn. This was really fun," Rachel said.

"Remember, Rachel," Finn said, "There's still more."

She didn't understand why her heart fluttered when he said her name.

They got in the car, and within ten minutes, they were at their new destination.

"OK Rachel, so I need you to put this blindfold on. Sorry," Finn flashed her that smile that had been making her weak at the knees all night. He handed her a bandana.

"O-ok..." Rachel said, uncertainly.

She put the blindfold on, trying to anticipate what was going on. Finn started leading her somewhere, and she felt incredibly safe in his muscular arms.

"Here it is," Finn said, untying the blindfold.

They were in a small courtyard. In some of the small trees, there were little lights strewn throughout. In the middle of it all was a small table with two chairs. It had flowers and plates set up in the middle.

"Didn't think I'd take you out and not feed you, did you?" Finn said.

She smiled, "Finn, this is just, amazing! It's beautiful."

He picked up the flowers and said, "And I just had to get you flowers."

Rachel gasped at the beautiful bouquet, "This is too much!"

"Too much for what, a one time thing? That's the thing Rachel, I don't want it to be a one time thing," he said, "This park is pretty unknown to the public. The gardener for my house, Will Schuster, actually did all the landscaping for some big shot guy who wanted to impress his girlfriend. But in the end, they broke up and the park remained off limits to the rest of Manhattan...But Will used to take me here, when the nanny wasn't paying attention. He was sort of like the dad I never had. Well, I had a dad, but I mean, he wasn't really a father figure. I called him today and asked him to unlock the gate for us, and I came a little before I picked you up to set all of this up."

Rachel was almost in tears. At least she had, had (emphasis on had) great dads back at home...Before she left them behind with only note saying she wasn't going to college and fled to New York. They weren't happy with her, and she hasn't talked to them since. She thinks that they still haven't forgiven her, but it's also a pride issue. If she talked to them now, she'd basically be admitting defeat. Damn her stubbornness.

"Thank you Finn, so much. For everything," she said.

He pulled out a chair for her to sit, and she gladly accepted. "I kinda ordered in from my favorite Italian

place, so one sec, I just got a text from them saying they are out front."

She waited, silently thinking about this new Finn she had gotten to experience today. He was perfect, but also imperfect...It created an amazing blend that she just wanted more and more of!

"I'm back," he smiled.

He passed out some food and they ate, not in silence, but constant chatter. They were learning so much about one another and were bonding very well, in Rachel's opinion.

When they were done, Finn cleaned up their food and picked up the table to put in his car. She clasped her flowers in one hand, and in the other, she held Finn's—he had one open hand, the other was holding the table.

She tried not to notice how her small hand fit perfectly in his.

* * *

><p>Finn was incredibly happy with how the date had gone. He'd never met a girl like her! She was perfect—smart, gorgeous, kind, talented, the complete package.<p>

He just hoped she felt the same way about him.

Once he parked his car in front of her apartment building, he walked her up to the door.

"Well, this is me," she quipped, quoting the cliché ending to a movie date.

"Are you going to invite me in?" he joked.

She laughed and smirked, "Nope, Rachel Berry does not hook up on the first date."

"So, you're implying another date?" he smiled.

She stopped laughing, "Finn, I really want too...It's just, I mean, could this actually work? We come from two different worlds, and-"

Rachel was cut off by the feel of Finn's lips on hers. It was electric and all of her nerve endings were on fire. She moaned and allowed his tongue more access. The flowers fell as she grabbed onto his shirt, pulling him closer to her. He tangled his fingers n her hair, the other hand running over the skin exposed on her back. Suddenly, he pulled away, "Yeah, there's going to be a second date."

She nodded and shyly tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, "I guess we could do that."

"Good, just give me your number and I'll call you," Finn said eagerly.

She loved that he went from cocky to adorkable within minutes.

Rachel programmed her number in his iPhone and he did the same with her cheap, old flip phone. She wasn't as intimidated by their extreme difference in wealth as she had before, and now, just focused on the incredible person Finn turned out to be. Finn didn't even think anything of it.

When he looked at her, he didn't see poor or rich, he just saw her. And he really liked what he saw.

If only Pablo Castillo could say the same.

* * *

><p>Puck paced in his mom's house, wondering why Rachel hadn't called him yet. It was almost midnight and she promised to call him when she got home. He was planning on going over there and begging for her forgiveness, but now, he just was going to go over there and kill Finn if he and Rachel were you know, doing it.<p>

He slammed the door to the house he grew up in and ran the dozen blocks or so that led to Rachel's apartment building. As he was walking by though, he was yanked inside the deli.

Talk about deja vu.

"Puck, we need to talk, now," a voice hissed as he was thrown in another room.

"What? I dropped off the money just like you asked," Puck complained.

"Yes, but this is about how you got that money. I know that my cashier went out with him," Pablo sneered.

"Yeah, but it was just a one time thing," Puck fumed.

"From that kiss I just saw from the deli window, it's not just a 'one time thing,'" Pablo smirked, "Now, I can't have my cashier flitting around with the enemy."

"The enemy?" Puck asked.

"Oh yeah, I guess I forgot to tell you," Pablo said with a bored expression, "When you said Finn Hudson, I was reminded of Christopher Hudson, only one of the richest, most corrupt men in New York—even more than me. He screwed me over a little bit ago, when he used his influence with the NYPD to put try and put me in jail. Well, now he's announced that he's running for the Senate. If he becomes the senator of New York, he'll have even more pull and I'm practically condemned to prison. Now that his son has also screwed us over, I'm going to strike. I'm gonna take the kid out."

"What?" Puck asked, feeling nauseous.

"If I kill his kid and then threaten to take out more of his family members, he'll get the message that he can't touch me. Then, when he inevitably becomes the senator, he won't put me and most of the other people in this organization in jail," Pablo sighed, "But if your big-nosed diva is with him, that poses a problem."

"I can assure you, those two aren't going to get together," Puck seethed, "I'll make sure of it." He turned to leave, but Pablo kept him back.

"That's not all I wanted to talk to you about," Pablo said, "I need to talk to you about your position in the Reyes. I need to know that your loyal to us before you can be promoted."

"I got you the money, what more do you want me to do? And a promotion, what?" Puck asked.

"There could be room for you as one of my right hand men. That would mean more pay and more security. Basically, you'd be in charge of all of the drug dealers instead of just being one of them."

"So what would I have to do?" Puck asked.

"Kill him."

"Me?" Puck choked.

"Yes, when I tell you to kill him, I want you to do it. Not yet, we have to wait until the perfect moment, but for now, just keep alert. That is all, adios," Pablo commanded.

Puck left the deli with a heavy heart. It wasn't about killing Finn—he'd killed before, and he could do it now. It was more about the fact that Rachel and Finn had kissed. What the hell was that about?

It was his fault, but he didn't see it that way. No, this just made him all the more determined to make Finn Hudson's death as painful as possible.

But would Rachel be the cost?

* * *

><p>AN: Hope you liked that chapter! I enjoyed writing it a lot! Hopefully, none of you are too disappointed with the direction Puck's character is going in...I had to make him bad somehow, or else some of you might want him with Rachel! Redemption is great though, so we'll see. More characters will be introduced later on.

Thanks for all the reviews/favs/alerts so far and please review with any questions or comments.


	5. Chapter 4

A/N: So hey guys! Hope you all had a great Christmas, or Chanukah, or Kwanza, or just break from school! Happy Holidays! Yeah, Finchel's date went well...It was pretty fluffy, if I do say so myself.

*It's mid October in this story...Finn is twenty and Rachel is nineteen if I didn't make that clear.

I hope none of you are upset with the direction of the story. I had to connect Finn with Pablo somehow! IF it didn't really make sense, basically Pablo wants to send Mr. Hudson a message that he can't touch his crime organization...so he wants to kill Finn. Heads up, there will be violence in this fic!

Note-this story is M because of violence and drugs. However, in this chapter, there is a hopefully not to explicit/dirty smutty part. Yes, it is awkward, but I needed to try it just to see if I could do it. It's not sex, but oh well, you'll see. Please message me or review what you thought and if you want me to write more Finchel smut scenes in this story. (or if I just made the whole thing awkward and stupid...)

Chapter title from Madonna's "Like a Virgin"

Chapter 4: "With Your Heartbeat Next to Mine"

Since that first date, they'd been out together fifteen times (sixteen times in all!)—not that Rachel was counting or anything...She was just on cloud nine and had been for the past three weeks. He was perfect, well perfect for her...

They both were in glee clubs in high school (a fact that surprised her, who would have thought Finn Hudson would be in a glee club), which meant he must be able to sing—she hadn't heard him yet, but she was hoping on changing that soon. He was incredibly kind and sweet and a real big softy on the inside. He was also really opening up to her, about his parents' messy relationship—they didn't even live together anymore—his dad's pressure on him, his older best friend Sam Evans, whom was also his second in command at Pike, his fear that he wouldn't succeed in life and become a loser, everything, and she loved hearing it all. She told him a lot too. About how she really couldn't take not talking to her dads anymore, how she was afraid she would never make it big, how she was incredibly insecure because of awful girls in high school, and more. He was just so easy to talk to.

And the physical stuff was amazing. They hadn't passed second base yet because she didn't want him to think she was some whore or something, but she wasn't sure how much longer that would be. She felt on fire when they made out, and when he touched her breasts for the first time (over the shirt, of course), she almost came right then and there (his hands were magical), but of course, she didn't. And his responses! She almost couldn't take his moans and grunts when they made out (or even when he was touching her over the shirt) because they made her feel like the sexiest woman in the world.

But they hadn't defined their relationship yet. And that was a real problem for Rachel. What were they anyway? Were they just dating or were they boyfriend and girlfriend? She hoped the latter, and she was planning on asking him on their next date.

Suddenly, she heard her phone ring. "Hello, this is Rachel Berry," she said primly.

"Hello Rachel, this is Mark, the director for _Once,_" he said.

She almost squealed! That was the off-Broadway play she had nailed her audition for, and then her callback after that! When they hadn't called for a few weeks, she was disappointed, but maybe she had no reason to be! "Yes?" Rachel asked, uncertainly.

"We'd like you to play the part of Girl," he said. (It's an unamed part.)

The female lead! Um yes!

"Wow, thank you!" Rachel squeaked.

"Yes, so on Tuesday, we'll have you come back in to sign your contract. We'll be in touch," he said and then hung up.

How did this happen? She was in an off-Broadway musical. Finally, she was making her way in the world of theater. She had to tell Finn!

She quickly dialed his number, "Finn! Guess what?"

"What, babe?" Finn asked. She loved it when he called her babe.

"I got that part! The one in the off-Broadway play!" Rachel nearly screamed.

He laughed, "See Rachel, I knew you would get it!"

She squealed some more, "It just seems like everything is finally falling into place, you know?"

"Yeah, I'm starting to think that too," he chuckled, "Look, tonight, get out of your shift at the deli. We're going to celebrate!"

"Oh Finn, we don't have to do anything big," Rachel smiled.

"We need to do something. You're going to be a star, baby, so you deserve star treatment. Wear something fancy because I'm taking you out tonight," Finn said, "But I should probably go...I'm sort of in class."

"Finn Hudson, you're on the phone in class! Bad boy," Rachel purred.

"Dirty talk. I like it. But if you keep that up, I'm going to lose it during class and the professor is already glaring at me, so see you tonight!" Finn whispered.

Rachel laughed and hung up. But then she squirmed uncomfortably on the couch when she thought about him "losing it" in class. Why was that man so damn sexy?

She stopped herself from going there and focused on the task at hand. She had to tell her boss she wouldn't be at work tonight...great. Rachel called the deli and faked being sick.

"I can't come in the work tonight," Rachel coughed, "I'm coming down with something."

"Oh you poor thing," Mercedes, one of the other cashiers sweetly said, "Honey, you just ring down here if your feeling really bad and I'll make you some soup or something later, you hear?"

"Thank you Mercedes, so much," Rachel said sincerely. She felt bad about lying, but she rarely missed work. Can't a girl have fun once in awhile?

She liked Mercedes a lot. The woman was like the mother Rachel never had, even if she was only a few years older than her. Before Noah helped her find this apartment, she even crashed at her place for a little bit. Unfortunately, she didn't get to hang out with Mercedes that much because Mercedes was busy with taking care of her son, Sammy Jr. The three-year-old cutie was from a one night stand with some asshole from Manhattan who didn't want anything to do with the child. She felt awful for the single mother, who was barely making minimum wage at the deli, while the dad flounced around without a care in the world.

Anyway, she had a date to get ready for. Finn texted her right after the call to tell her he had reservations at six, so he would pick her up at five. That meant she had three or so hours to kill. She decided to watch the movie version of _Once. _After she finished watching it (for the fifth time, she studied hard for that audition), she got even more excited about being in it.

Eventually, she decided to get ready. She scanned her closet, happy that she had just gone shopping with Santana a few days ago. They had really become great friends in the last few weeks, Brittany too. It was weird to have female friends, since she was just used to her high school best friend (who she missed so much!) Kurt.

Anyway, she had gotten the perfect dress. It was pink, but it had some flowers on it. It was more her than the dress that Santana had let her borrow previously, but she wasn't worried about what Finn would think. She had worn her _adorable_ horse sweater when they went on a picnic in Central Park and he complimented how cute the pony was.

She showered and then put the dress on. After doing some very simple makeup, she was ready. Ten minutes later, Finn knocked on her door. She kissed him heartily when she opened the door and they walked hand and hand down the stairs. As she was walking though, she hid behind Finn so no one in the deli would see her get into the sleek BMW.

When they got to the cute vegan restaurant that Finn had gotten them reservations to, she decided that she had to ask Finn about their relationship.

Before she could even get in a word though, Finn decided to answer her question.

"Rachel," he said, putting his hands on top of hers from across the table, "I'm so proud of you. You're just, the best and I'm happy the rest of the world is realizing that too...I want to ask you something. We've been on a lot of dates...eleven to be exact. Anyway, what I'm trying to ask is will you be my girlfriend?"

She happily accepted, "Yes Finn, I would be honored to be your girlfriend."

"I'm the one that's honored that you've even gone out with me so much," Finn laughed, "Now, let's have a toast to your incredible accomplishment!" He had the waiter bring over some sparkling cider (he was twenty and she was nineteen, so no champagne for them!) and he did a cliché toast that she loved.

God, she was totally falling for him. How could she control herself around him now?

* * *

><p>After the date, they went back to her apartment and that's when things heated up.<p>

They were making out on the couch when she whispered in his ear that she wanted him to unzip her dress. He was shocked, and asked to check that she was sure. She said that she was and he shakily unzipped her dress, which was weird because he was normally incredibly confident when it came to women and sex.

Finn started with her breasts. Once her dress was removed, there was an unspoken agreement that they were finally going to go to third base. He palmed her breasts for a little bit, enjoying her moans. As he nipped at her perky nipples and kissed the valley between her breasts, he trailed his hand lower and lower to the edge of her pink lacy panties. He teased the edge and she pushed his hand through the top of the panties and on her core, surprising Finn and turning him on. Finn couldn't let her take control for this though, so he pulled his hand out and looked her in the eyes.

"Take them off," he demanded.

She was pleasantly startled, but didn't say a word as she pulled them off. She sighed as he lightly tapped her inner thighs, slowly making his way up to her heated center.

He was the man. Before this date, he'd only touched her boobs—her perfect boobs—over the shirt, and now here he was, with his fingers pumping in and out of her core. He curled one finger in and then added another, relishing the wetness he was causing.

"Oh...uhhh, Finn," she moaned his name and he smirked. He loved—liked-her responses. As he started to flick at her clit, he felt his pants grow tight. He really hoped he didn't come just while he was fingering her because that would be embarrassing.

Her grunts and moans got louder and louder, and suddenly, he felt her walls clench around his fingers. He took his fingers out of her and slowly licked them, making her shudder even more. "I can't wait to taste you," he grunted, making her orgasm last even longer.

As she came down from her orgasm, she saw his smug smile.

"You think you're real cool, don't you?" she asked.

"Well yeah, I mean I did just make the most beautiful girl in the world come pretty hard," he smiled.

She sat up from her couch and said, "Since I don't want you to think I'm all take and no give, it's your turn."

"What?" he asked, confused.

"You heard me. Take off your shirt and drop your pants," she smirked at his wide eyes.

He took off his shirt, but not his pants, hesitant and worried she didn't really want to do this.

"I said, 'drop your pants,' Finn," she snarled teasingly, "You don't want to be a naughty boy do you?"

Hastily, he undid his belt and shucked his pants off. Before he could remove his boxers though, Rachel shook her head at him.

"No, let me," she purred.

He stood there, his eyes dilating and the tent in his boxers growing bigger as she slowly stalked to him. She then got on her knees and smiled at him.

"Finn, did I ever tell you I don't have a gag reflex?" Rachel growled as she released his member from his boxers. She started gently stroking him and then quickly got faster and faster. Her fingers slowly trickled up and down him.

"Uh, uhhh, god Rach," he moaned.

She stopped, "Answer the question."

How did he get so fucking lucky? "Uhhh, n-n-n-no-no," he grunted. She then pecked his tip, licking the moisture that was starting to gather there. She then kissed his balls a few time, only pausing to lightly squeeze and scratch them.

"See, that's a good boy." Before he knew it, she had her big mouth on him. She started by teasingly alternating from swirling her amazing tongue around his dick and licking up and down his shaft. Then, he felt himself it the back of her throat and his eyes rolled in the back of his head. She would release him with a pop of her lips and then go back on. At some times, her teeth would even bite on his tip, eliciting positive responses from Finn. From there on, all that could be heard was his grunts and then he came hard...

.

.

.

In her mouth. She just deep throated and then swallowed! What the fuck was going on? When he first met her, he would never think she was such a sex kitten, but it turns out she was and he was not complaining.

They cuddled on the couch for a little while after that, and soon enough, Rachel fell asleep. Should he just stay with her? He couldn't just leave her. So yeah, he would stay. He typically didn't stay the night at girl's houses, but Rachel wasn't just any girl. He was starting to think he was falling in love with her (and not just because she gave the most incredible blow jobs ever), or that he was already in love with her. He just didn't want to tell her yet because they just became boyfriend and girlfriend, so the l word would probably be too soon.

Finn loved—liked-everything about her. Her ambition, her confidence, her charisma, her style, her beautiful brown eyes, her smokin' body, just everything! He heard her breathing slow and knew she was fast asleep. He thought about her as he soon drifted to sleep, his last thought being that he could really get used to laying beside her.

* * *

><p>A banging on the door woke Rachel from her peaceful slumber. Her eyes widened when she felt Finn's strong, protective arms around her. She smiled and squirmed out of them, putting on his shirt and quickly running to her bedroom to grab some sweatpants.<p>

She swiped her hands through her hair and hoped she didn't look like a _total_ harlot.

Without looking out the peephole, she opened the door slightly.

"Noah? What are you doing here?" Rachel groaned.

"Rachel, what's going on?" he asked, taking in her fucked appearance and her "slightly" too big shirt.

"None of your business Puckerman," Rachel snapped, "Now, what are you doing here?"

She shut the door so they could talk in the hall.

"I came to see you Rachel, but all I see is that you fucked someone," he growled.

"We're over Puck, it doesn't matter what I do! And you're obviously drunk or high, even though it's eight in the morning, so I think you should just leave," Rachel yelled.

"It's that fucker Finn Hudson isn't it?" he shouted, "What, did he pay you to have sex with him or something? Is he buying you stuff now?"

"Puck, it's not like that," she cried, "And it's none of your business anyway."

"He's not a good guy, Rachel," he yelled.

"Neither are you!" she shouted back, angry, "You can't just come here and yell at me! We aren't together anymore Puck. I wouldn't even be with him if you didn't have to clear some drug deal you got yourself into! Maybe if you stopped doing this earlier, we wouldn't be in this situation now. But you know what, I'm happy you did because it led me to Finn! Finn is the nicest, most sincere man and even though he's made some mistakes, I still love, shit, like him! OK?"

She started to turn back to the door, but he roughly grabbed her back. He held her wrists, tightly, and she was crying, begging him to let her go.

"Rachel, I can quit the gang! We can be together, I've changed!" he said.

"You're hurting me Puck," she screamed, oblivious to the fact that people might be sleeping in the apartments near here, or even listening to their argument through their thin doors.

She heard her door open, and then Finn.

"Let go of her!" he yelled. Soon, she felt his arms grabbing her away from the man she used to love.

Puck saw the redness on her wrists and cried, "Rachel, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to hold you that hard."

"Get out of here, Puckerman," Finn glared.

Puck shot Finn a look of pure hatred and growled, "You better watch yourself pretty boy. I'm not as forgiving as Rachel." He then shoved Finn and quickly ran off.

Once Puck was gone, Rachel slipped in Finn's comforting embrace and let her tears continue. He stroked her hair and rubbed her back soothingly.

They made their way back into the apartment, and eventually, Rachel stopped crying. Finn didn't have a class that day, and Rachel didn't have to work until five, so they had the day to themselves.

Rachel made them some breakfast and they silently ate. He put a reassuring hand on hers, hoping to get rid of some of the tension, but Rachel wouldn't budge.

"Rachel, talk to me," he begged.

"I'm sorry, I'm just a little shaken up," she frowned, "I mean he gets like that—angry and aggressive—when he's under the influence of drugs or alcohol, so he's not serious...But still."

"I'll keep you safe, don't worry," he smiled, and then added, "But then again, I'm pretty sure you can take care of yourself, I'll just be extra help."

"It's not about me Finn," she replied, her eyes filling with more tears, "You're so good, and you're so kind, and I just feel awful that you're being dragged into this life! I mean, if you had just paid and then we went our separate ways, you would be with some socialite right now or something productive and not with me, some wannabe actress!"

"Rachel, I don't want to be anywhere else but here, with you," he smiled, "I lo—really like you, Rach. Plus, you're not a wannabe actress! One, you're in a play now and two, you're better than everyone else out there so you could never be a wannabe."

"Puck used to call me Rach," Rachel sighed.

"Sorry, it was just a slip of the tongue. I won't call you that anymore," Finn said, a little hurt that she had said that after his confession.

"No, no Finn," she smiled, putting her hands on his shoulders and looking him in the eye, "I like it better when you say it. You make me feel safe, secure, happy! I can't imagine not being with you and I hope you know that. I really like you too, and I'm honored to say that you're my boyfriend. And, I'm not worried about myself."

"Who are you worried about then?" Finn asked, concerned, but then hardened, "Puck?"

"Of course not, well partly not," she said, but then quickly started speaking again when Finn's face dropped, "Not like that! I don't have feelings for Puck anymore. I don't think I was in love with him, I just cared for him deeply, like a friend almost. I just stayed with him because it was semi-stable, settled almost. I'm worried about you and your safety."

"Babe, you don't have to worry about me," Finn smirked, "I mean, I'm a big guy."

"In more ways than one," Rachel laughed teasingly, knowing she was only encouraging his sometimes huge ego (it was adorable, even though at first it annoyed her).

He pulled her in for a kiss and she happily responded. She really could get used to this—them. The domestic feeling that came along with eating breakfast with him was something she loved, no liked a lot. She hoped to feel it more and more with the days to come.

But she couldn't help but still worry a bit about Puck's threat.

* * *

><p>After he sobered up, Puck decided to pay a visit to his <em>dear <em>boss.

He went in without knocking and remembered the time when he felt fear around Pablo. Now, he didn't really feel any nervousness, any emotion really. Once he and Rachel broke up, he kind of stopped trying to be an actual person and started focusing on Pablo's request. He wasn't the same person he was when he was with Rachel and now he was drinking more and using some of the harder drugs than he used to. He knew it wasn't the way to get Rachel back, but he could get to that later, after he killed Finn.

The whole thing with Rachel was a mess. He felt himself less concerned about their relationship and more consumed with the fact that the rich boy won. He had always been insecure when it came to money, and Rachel dumping him for the trust fund jackass that was Finn Hudson was just the tip of the iceberg. He didn't even feel like himself anymore.

"When do you want me to kill the bastard?" Puck glared at the man he used to fear.

"Hello to you too Puckerman," Pablo hissed, "I told you, when the time is right, we will strike."

"I want a time, now," Puck demanded, his eyes blazing.

"Once Hudson starts to reveal his campaign strategy, I'll know when," Pablo replied, started by Puck's forwardness, "Look, we can't do anything now. This bitch cop named Sue Sylvester has been snooping around some of our major ammunition warehouses. We can't get busted for those since our weapons trade is becoming way more lucrative than before. Plus, we'll loose a bunch of guys."

"Well tell me when and I'll just take the fucker out," Puck growled.

"You've changed Puck," Pablo said proudly, "You remind me of myself at you're age."

Puck smirked to himself and left without another word.

Yeah he had changed, and now he was ready to rid the world of Finn Hudson once and for all.

* * *

><p>Rachel came into work, smiling and happy about her day with Finn. She went in another area in the back, where the employees put their stuff, and dropped off her purse in one of the lockers. Rachel smiled happily, knowing that soon, she'd quit. Hopefully the play would provide her with enough money where she wouldn't have to work a shift or two at the deli in order to support herself.<p>

"You're looking better," Mercedes huffed, locking up her purse as well.

"Well I think I just needed to rest," Rachel lied.

"Rachel, I saw you leaving with the tall guy in the BMW," Mercedes replied sternly.

"Mercedes, I'm so sorry I lied!" Rachel sighed, "I just, I got the part in this play and I wanted to celebrate with my boyfriend."

"That's your boyfriend?" Mercedes said worriedly, "What's his name?"

"Finn Hudson," she said, "Why do you ask?"

"Oh, um, no reason," Mercedes stammered. She paled and started to head for the front when Rachel pulled her back.

"Mercedes, what's wrong?" Rachel asked, "Do you know him?"

"Nope," Mercedes said, popping the "p." And with that, she hurriedly left the room and went up to the front, behind the counter.

Rachel shook her head, confused, but didn't think about it any further. She went to her part of the counter and as people asked numbers that were code names for drugs, she just concentrated on the fact that she would be done with it all soon.

Hopefully.

* * *

><p>AN: Well, that was my stab at smut...Yeah I hope it didn't suck too much! Please review with your thoughts!

Thanks!

Happy New Year


	6. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own Glee or Brandy/Monica's song "The Boy is Mine" (Chapter title credits!)

Chapter 5- "He Belongs to Me, the Boy is Mine"

"Hello, Mr. Castillo," Rachel muttered nervously as she stood in the darkened office, "Thank you so much for allowing me to work here for so long. I have really appreciated the great-er, experience, but I quit."

"What do you mean Ms. Berry?" Pablo sighed, "I'd hate to see you go, you've always been one of my best cashiers."

"Um, thank you very much, sir," Rachel stammered, intimidated by the man, "But I have recently been cast in the off Broadway performance of _Once _and will therefore need to devote all of my time to that."  
>"Ok, but don't think you can just come back here when your run is inevitably over," he hissed rudely.<p>

She gasped and quickly left the office, still shaking. He was such an awful man! She was never returning to that drug house again—she was almost free of Castillo and Hunts Point for good.

.

.

.

That was a week and a half or so ago, and she was still frightened about it.

After negotiating her contract with the people at _Once, _she decided that she could quit her job and sustain her normal lifestyle. She was, after all, making about $600 a week, which although may not seem like much, was more than she made at the deli. And it was at least enough to pay for her crappy rent (that Puck scored her) and her health insurance, as well as other fees. It was for a two-month run, but there was talk about it maybe moving on Broadway depending on the response of the run. Finally, there was talk of Broadway in her future.

Rachel had already started rehearsals, well just some readings and a few informal run throughs of the songs. For right now, they were only meeting a few times in a week, but after Halloween break, they'd start getting more and more intense. Her costar was pretty amazing—Sebastian Smythe—and Finn was happy to know that he was, in fact, gay. The play was amazing, of course, and she was certain that the run would be great.

She just really needed to knock her performances out of the park and bam, she'd soon be a Broadway star. When she told Finn, he was ecstatic, and wanted to celebrate, but they couldn't because of his classes and her rehearsals. She hadn't seen him since when they, well, were intimate and to say she missed him would be an understatement. They called and texted each other constantly—with Finn even persuading her to say naughty things on the phone—but it just wasn't the same. They'd both been so busy, but she was happy to say that in two days, they were going to the Halloween party his frat was throwing on Sunday.

That reminded her, she had to meet up with Brittany and Santana for them to approve her Halloween costume. This year, she decided to go as Maria from WSS. Obviously, this wasn't the most creative of choices, but it was her choice and she had never actually been to a Halloween party before so she wanted it to be perfect.

She grabbed her little bag with her costume supplies in it and she made her way to Santana and Brittany's place (sure, they were just friendly roommates).

When she arrived, Santana and Brittany already had their Halloween outfits on. Finn said it would be OK if she invited them, too, so she did and she was incredibly excited about it. Those girls were easily becoming her best friends ever, and she was happy that Finn liked them the few times they went out with them on their dates.

They'd decided to do black and white swan. Brittany was White Swan and Santana was the black one. Overall, they looked incredible, and Rachel knew that even though they weren't showing as much skin as they (Santana) would have liked, that guys (and girls?) would be drooling all over them. Rachel knew Santana really wanted to be something simple and sexy, but Brittany begged her to be her black swan, so of course Santana complied because it's Brittany.

Rachel changed into her costume and was happy with the result. She thought she looked exactly like Maria.

"Whoa, whoa there Natalie-Wood-Not-Do, what the hell are you wearing?" Santana sneered.

"It's my Maria costume," Rachel squeaked, "What, do I look bad or something?"

"I think you look like an Amish, American, Israeli princess," Brittany smiled.

"Thanks?" Rachel asked.

"No, no, no," Santana sighed, "You look adorable, like a cute dwarf. That's the problem. Halloween is about the three s's—sexy, skanky, and slutty. You look like you're celebrating your bat mitzvah."

"I don't want Finn's friends to think I'm a low class hooker" Rachel said, "Not that there's anything wrong with that."

"Hey, no offense here...We ain't no low class, we be rolling in the upper sea. Anyway," Santana drawled, "I have an idea for your costume, that would be both sexy and somewhat non-revealing."

"Priest?" Brittany asked.

"No, good idea though, Brit," Santana smiled, "Catwoman."

"W-what?" Rachel said, "I could never pull that off."

"Please, you'd look hot as hell," Brittany said.

"Berry, you do realize you're fine, don't you? Don't answer that, I really don't care right now. Anyway, a little birdie told me that Finn is going to be Batman, so Catwoman would compliment that perfectly," Santana smirked.

"Was it a cardinal? Because once, one was talking to Lord Tubbington, I swear," Brittany said.

"No, it was Finn, Brittany," Santana said.

"He's not little though. And he's not a bird, really. Unless that's another name for his penis. Rachel, does Finn have a little penis?" Brittany asked.

Rachel blushed darkly, but before she could reply, Santana did, "Like Rachel would know. She's too much of a prude to have done it before they exchanged the 'l' word."

"Excuse me, I do in fact know that his penis is not small, thank you very much," Rachel snapped, before she realized that she had revealed all of that information. They all three laughed, and Rachel's blushed intensified.

"You guys did it already?" Santana asked, "Bitch, you didn't tell me."

"No, we didn't. I would have told you that," Rachel said, "We just, um, we got to third base."

"Blowjob? Figures, you're mouth would be perfect for that," Santana mumbled.

"Yeah, I've thought about your mouth before," Brittany said, "But then Santana did stuff to me, so I stopped thinking about it."

Santana and Rachel ignored Brittany and Rachel asked Santana, "Who told you about Finn's costume? He's refused to tell me."

"He did, idiot," Santana said, "He texted me that he needed help with a costume, so I went shopping with him."

"You did? I didn't know you were close," Rachel muttered darkly.

"Oh shut up with the insecure act. That boy is head over heels in love with you. He probably doesn't even know I'm a woman," Santana said.

"I doubt that. You're incredibly pretty, Santana, I'm sure he noticed that," Rachel sighed.

"Yeah I'm fine as hell, but so are you, so stop putting yourself down about it," Santana said, "Back to the topic at hand, I took the liberty of buying you a Catwoman outfit while Finn wasn't looking, knowing that you'd choose some Broadway costume." Santana ran to her room and grabbed the costume. She handed it to Rachel.

"I'm not so sure about this, San," Rachel stammered worriedly as she held onto the black leather costume.

"You'll look super mega foxy awesome hot, bitch," Santana said.

"Super mega!" Brittany agreed.

Rachel shook her head but complied as she started changing. When she was done, Santana whistled and Brittany whooped.

She looked in the mirror and was surprised when she didn't look all that bad. In fact, she looked pretty amazing. The costume hugged her in all the right places, but wasn't revealing at all. Well, it was almost teasingly revealing because it was incredibly tight, but it was also long sleeved—so it didn't show much.

"Wow," Rachel muttered to herself as she took in her reflection.

"Told you so," Santana smiled.

"Are you certain I won't look trashy to Finn's friends?" Rachel sighed.

"They're frat boys, those are church clothes to them," Santana purred, "Besides, who cares what they think. It's all about what Finn thinks about you."

"Fine, I guess I'll wear it," Rachel consented.

"Yay! Now we'll all three be from the _Black Swan_!" Brittany cried.

Rachel and Santana just whooped along with their adorable friend.

"So you guys are coming over before to get ready?" Rachel asked hopefully. Yes, they had been hanging out for some time, but she still couldn't believe they were actually friends with her.

"Duh, chica! Where else would we be?" Santana yelled.

Rachel laughed and they hung out for a little bit longer until Rachel had to get to rehearsal.

She was looking forward to the party—and especially Finn's reaction to her costume.

* * *

><p>Finn forced himself to stay awake during his final class before he could go to sleep all night and party on Halloween. He just couldn't really concentrate all day. It probably had to do with the fact that he hadn't seen his incredibly sexy girlfriend in about a week and the withdrawal was kind of killing him—needless to say, she isn't necessarily always the drama queen in their relationship. It felt like he hadn't seen her in forever. Even though they had talked on the phone and texted each other daily, it just wasn't the same as actually seeing her twinkling brown eyes or running his hands through her super soft locks.<p>

Plus, from some of the phone/text conversations they had been having, his hand just wasn't cutting it anymore, if you catch his drift.

She was driving him insane. It reminded him of his high school years when he had a little early arrival problem and had to think of the time he almost killed a mailman in order to stop it. This was exactly like that, except ten times worse because it was Rachel and she was just...Rachel.

Rachel. He didn't even know a girl as perfect as her existed. She was absolutely amazing and he was in awe that she let him love—date, like?-her at all. He couldn't wait to show her how much he loved her, but they both decided to take things slowly and he respected that.

But that still didn't mean she didn't make him crazy. Just her voice on the phone alone was enough for him to get hard lately. She was turning him into some horny freak and he couldn't wait to see her and resolve this issue.

He had invited her to his frat party in order to introduce her to his friends, well most of them. He didn't want her around some of them, but some of them were truly his brothers and his girlfriend needed to meet them. Besides, he had met her good friends (Santana and Brittany) and even though they had _interesting _day (night) jobs, they were awesome people. In fact, Santana even helped him pick out his Halloween costume because he wanted something that would make Rachel think he's hot (he's kind of insecure about that stuff when it comes to her).

So he went with Batman, who was kind of his childhood hero.

He didn't know what she was being, since she was refusing to tell him, but he guessed she might be Maria from _West Side Story_. He knew she'd look adorable in anything, so he was excited to see what she came up with.

Now, the party was going to be great, especially with Rachel there, but there was one thing he was worried about: Quinn. She was going to be at the party, and she's super possessive, even though he broke things off with her right before he started dating her. She was still calling and texting him about when they could "get together." He had told her multiple times that he was happily taken, but she wouldn't take that and assumed that they were meant to be, or something.

It's hard being this appealing to women.

Finally, the professor stopped lecturing and he realized it was time to leave. It was weird leaving class at like 9:30 at night, but typically, class was earlier so it wasn't a big deal. Tonight, the lecture hall could only be scheduled for a later time or something class ended later...Which sucked, but at the same time was good in this case because he could just go to sleep and let tomorrow come sooner.

When he'd see Rachel.

He slowly and tiredly walked back to his frat. He hoped for some peace and quiet, but was quickly bombarded by questions from a bunch of the members.

"Sam told us you were bringing some girl to the party. Is she hot?" one asked.

"What happened to Quinn?"

"Is she hotter than Quinn?"

"Does she go here?"

It went on and on. Now, yes, he was kind of the big guy around the frat (and all of the campus...), but he didn't think people would react this much to the fact that he had a girlfriend now.

"Ladies, ladies, calm your tits," Finn joked, "I'm bringing my girlfriend of about a month or so to the party, so all of you guys be on you're best behavior—especially you, pledges." Before they could ask anymore, he ran upstairs only to find Sam sitting on his bed.

"Sam, what's up?" Finn asked, confused. Sam was pretty much his "brother from another mother." They'd been great friends since Finn's freshmen year, when Sam was already a sophomore. Finn was just a little (not physically) pledge and Sam took him under his wing. It could only be described as the ultimate bromance.

"Finn, so tomorrow you're bringing this Rachel girl to the party," Sam sighed, "And I just want to make sure you're prepared for me to totally steal her away for a dance."

Finn laughed, "I don't know, Sam, you're blondie charm just might take her away from me."

"But seriously, dude, this is a big step for you," Sam grinned, "I mean your last 'serious' girlfriend was Quinn, and we all know she was just someone for you to fuck on a regular basis."

"Rachel isn't like that," Finn said, "I think, no I know, I'm falling for her."

Sam looked kind of sad when he said that, as if he was remembering something or someone in his past. "Well, just don't fall too hard or you'll crack your already dense head."

"You really a great friend," Finn quipped saracasticly

"Just, be careful, OK?" Sam said solemnly before getting up and walking out of Finn's room.

Finn was sort of confused because Sam never got that serious about girls usually, but he let it slide because he was exhausted and Rachel-withdrawn. Before getting ready for bed, he texted a quick "good night" text to his girlfriend and felt his heart thump when she replied back with that and a few "xoxo's." It was weird how this girl made him feel. He feel asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow with dreams of Rachel on the horizon.

_In the morning..._

Finn woke up at about two in the afternoon, happy for once about his skill of sleeping late because it meant he was only a few hours away from seeing Rachel. He was going to pick she, Santana, and Brittany up at 8:30 so they could go to a bar beforehand (one that didn't card, thank you very much). At about 10:30-11 they'd go to the party, since no one cool arrived at least before 10.

He pretty much just dicked around with some of the other brothers and made the pledges set up for the party (basically just a keg, more alcohol, and some speakers for music), and then it was finally 7:30. He quickly took a shower and got dressed in his batman costume.

Some of the brothers joking hollered at him as he waved his cape around for them to see before he left. He got in his car and quickly drove to Rachel's apartment. When he got there, he checked the clock—8:29—right on time. With Rachel, he didn't worry about being too early because he didn't care if she thought he was desperate because he was pretty desperate—desperate for her.

He rushed up the stairs and was greeted by the usual lurking prostitute in the stairwell and that guy who always was stoned on Rachel's floor—he wasn't comfortable with Rachel living in this unsafe neighborhood, but he knew she was sensitive about it so he didn't say anything.

After he knocked on the door, a black poofy skirt clad Santana answered. She kind of freaked him out, to be honest. She looked like that chick from that creepy ballet movie he saw during the previews for _The Last Exorcism._ What was it, the-?

"I'm from the _Black Swan_, dumbass," Santana sneered, sensing his confusion.

"I knew that," he said timidly. They were friends, but she scared him like 86% of the time they were together.

"Sure you did, gigantor," she laughed, "The costume turned out better than I thought. I was kind of hoping you'd be too fat to pull it off."

"Gee thanks Santana, that's high praise coming from a woman who sells herself daily," Finn snapped. She wasn't offended—the banter was kind of just something they did the few times they'd all hung out.

"Come on guys, let's take a step back," he heard the voice of his girlfriend and his heart raced, "And be nice to one another."

He let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding when Rachel stepped out from her bedroom, adjusting her mask. Holy shit, she was going as Catwoman.

The costume was fucking perfect. It was tight in all the right places, but it wasn't the super revealing one like Halle Berry wore (so he was happy about that because he didn't want anyone else seeing her like that, but at the same time he really wanted to see her in that outfit). It was more like the Julie Newmar one, yes he knew her—he was a Batman addict as a kid of course, with the cute (sexy as hell on Rachel) cat ears and eye mask.

Basically, it was the sexiest thing he had ever seen, well, it was a close second to when she sucked his dick or when she came apart after he fingered her, but still. God, he hoped he could take it off of her tonight. If he was a horny freak before, he was going to completely lose it now.

"Finn!" she squealed. She ran over to him and gave him a big hug.

He tried to ignore how the tight fabric of their costumes was making it so easy to feel everything and just concentrate on how good her hair smelled. It was great, like apples. But, wait, was that some cinnamon? A new perfume maybe. She used to smell like vanilla and he always thought that's what she'd taste like when he finally got to eat out of her, but now she smells like cinnamon and now he's thinking about her tasting like vanilla and cinnamon, and maybe apples too? Shit, even that was turning him on. "Rachel," he croaked.

She broke their hug and looked into his eyes, sending shivers down his spine (which was hard, right, since his costume was so fucking tight). He felt her lips on his and he almost groaned in appreciation. He grabbed her closer to him while she started nipping at his bottom lip. Finn pushed his tongue in her mouth and was smug when she moaned. She attacked his tongue with her own, and he made a weird humming noise he hadn't made before. She tried to fist her hands through his hair, but let out a little huff of disappointment against his lips when she remembered he had a mask on. Quickly she ripped his off mask off and he growled when she pulled him back to her.

He moved his hands up and down her sides, earning a mewl when one of his hands accidentally brushed against one of her now hard nipples. He subtly palmed at the perfects mounds, earning more moans of delight from her and groans from him. She moved her hands all around his costume clad chest, moving her hand lower and lower until she teased the top of tights (what, it was a costume!). She smirked against his lips and whispered, "These tights just make it harder for me to get what I want." Finn growled and continued his assault of her lips.

He was vaguely aware Santana and Brittany were there, but he didn't care as he moved his hand lower and lower until he finally reached her amazing ass. He lightly squeezed them, eliciting a "Harder" from Rachel. Before he could get his hands comfortable, though, he heard Santana making noises like she was throwing up.

"God, literally, don't vacuum up Yentl, alright?" Santana sighed, "Or at least do it in private. Brits and I wants to get our Halloween on, so can we get out of here? Plus, Brittany's bored. She was recording you guys on her phone, but she quickly realized that it wasn't sexy enough to keep her entertained."

Rachel huffed, but said no more. He took in the sight of her, the now mussed hair, the bruised lips, the skin tight body suit, and almost came then and there. She flashed him smoldering eyes and a flirty smile, and he knew she felt the same.

Wrapping an arm around her shoulders, he smiled when she nuzzled her neck into his shoulder. The group headed out of her apartment and piled into his small BMW on route to Manhattan.

"So where are we headed first, Finny D?" Brittany asked. She thought that was his name for some reason. Whatever, she seemed like a nice girl, albeit not smartest.

"There's this cool bar that doesn't card that we could head to before. Don't worry, Rach, you won't have to drink and I won't if you don't want me to," he said, smiling at the look of admiration she flashed him, "It's just a pretty cool scene and they have great bands. Tonight, some creepy bands are playing though, but it should still be fun. And before you ask Rachel, it's within walking distance so even if I do drink, I won't be driving. We're just going to park it at the frat and then walk to the bar."

She flashed him another sparkling grin and he let out an inner cry of victory.

"Ugh, the prudeness in this car is making me infertile, not that I want kids," Santana drawled, "Have any music that won't kill my sensitive ears, gassy baby?"

"You're a prostitute, you're ears can hardly be that sensitive," Finn sneered.

"OK, ha ha, the prostitute jokes were funny, oh I don't know, the first hundred times or so. Get some new lines, mega-tron, or at least get a new face when you're turned on that doesn't look like a you're a constipated senior citizen," Santana snapped.

"How do you know that face?" Rachel asked.

"Um hello, you guys were groping each other in your living room. I mean, I couldn't tell if you were turned on or not, Rach. His hands looked just a tad clumsy for my taste," Santana sighed.

"How can his hands be clumsy? Do you walk on them Finn? I used to do that when I was a baby," Brittany contributed.

"Erm, no Brittany," Finn said, "Santana's just trying to make a joke."

Santana scowled at Finn, but said no more. The rest of the car ride was spent sort of like that, with friendly bickering and teasing between the four of them (well the three since Brittany was sort of dazed the whole time).

They got to the frat and walked to the bar. Once there (inside and out of the long-ass line), Brittany and Santana broke away from the couple and pretty much disappeared. Rachel and Finn headed to the bar for some drinks—Virgin Cosmo for Rachel and a bottle of Budwiser for Finn (Rachel said she didn't care if he drank).

"I really missed you, Finn," Rachel smiled.

"Yeah me too," Finn grinned, "I've been going crazy without seeing you."

"Well, once the more intensive rehearsals start, it might get a little tougher," Rachel pouted.

"Hey, hey, don't worry, Rach," Finn said, "We'll be fine. Either way, I'll make time to see you because I'm pretty crazy about you." He almost said love and it freaked him out. Finn didn't love her, he couldn't. He didn't even know what that felt like. He remembered telling Harmony or Quinn the "l" word just to shut them up, but other than that, he had no experience whatsoever with it.

"You're kind of perfect," Rachel blurted out. Finn took in her bright blush and realized that she probably didn't mean to say it. She was just so cute.

"Well, you are perfect, so I guess we're even," Finn quipped.

She beamed at him and grabbed his hand. Rachel linked their fingers together, and once again, he was shocked by the complete feeling he felt when with her.

It must just be the effect of the beer he had just downed.

They talked and laughed for the rest of the night, until it was finally 10:45ish. Rachel and Finn found Santana and Brittany and they headed back to the frat.

OK, he was totally ready for this. He just hoped Rachel didn't think he was some douchey frat boy after seeing him in this element.

He didn't know how she would react.

* * *

><p>When they first walked into the frat house, she tensed at the smell of beer and marijuana. She assumed that the jeers and chants that were thrown her way when she walked in were because she was with Finn, their "leader," and not the way all girls were treated here. How degrading! She knew that frat parties did get wild, but she didn't expect it to be like this—and within the first five minutes of stepping inside!<p>

Finn's arm was wrapped around her, and it did make her feel protected against the swarms of sketchy guys that were grabbing random girls for what looked like lap dances.

"We're going to go find our next target," Santana whispered in Rachel's ear and winked, "Text me when you go though because I doubt we'll leave with you, and I do want to make sure you get home, OK."

Rachel shuddered. Yes, she knew what Santana meant. So, OK, she secretly thought that Santana and Brittany were in a real relationship, but she knew for sure they were in a sexual relationship. Every so often though, they decided to bring a third party to their fornication and Rachel heard all about it. She just didn't see the appeal of a three-some. The thought of some other girl making out with Finn while she watched didn't turn her on, but instead made her green with envy. And two boys doing sexual acts to her at the same time? Isn't that unsanitary?

During her conversation with Santana, she somehow lost Finn amidst the crowd at the party. Her stomach swooped. She knew how these things ended. Girl can't find boyfriend, boyfriend is either with another girl or girl ends up getting raped by someone else at the party. So she was a little dramatic, so what.

Being so short, it was hard for her to scan the mass of people, even if her boyfriend was 6'3. With a huff, she decided that she should probably get out of the large crowd, so it'd be easier to see him. She saw a clearing in a little corner, so she could probably wait there until he found her. She would call him, but since there was absolutely no room in her skin tight outfit for it, she let Finn take care of it.

After about ten minutes of just waiting around, she realized that Finn wasn't going to find her there. Maybe she could ask someone where his room was? She saw a tuft of sloppy blonde hair and figured that maybe he was a brother that could help her.

Carefully approaching someone she hoped was one of the brothers, she softly tapped his shoulder.

"Excuse me, are you a brother here?" she asked meekly.

The guy turned around and she immediately realized that this was Sam Evans, her boyfriend's best friend in the entire world. Rachel had seen him on Finn's Facebook, plus Finn talked about the guy so much that Rachel knew a lot about him already.

"Oh hi," she smiled, "You must be Sam Evans! I'm Rachel, Finn's girlfriend. He's told me so much about you."

"Huh, so you're the girl he's been talking about nonstop," Sam slurred just a little bit—Rachel figured he trashed.

"Well, hopefully, unless there's another girl named Rachel he's going out with," Rachel unsuccessfully joked.

"You're really pretty," Sam said, "But different than Quinn. Quinn is just so fucking hot and you're like fucking cute."

Rachel paled, "Um, who's Quinn?"

"Finn's on again, off again girlfriend. Everyone sort of thought they'd get married. Hell, their names even rhyme. But I mean, really, it was just about sex, you know? 'Cos she's like this sex goddess! Seriously! If he hadn't made her stop that whole celibacy shit that she was preaching in freshmen year, a lot of guys at this school wouldn't be as satisfied as they are now," Sam laughed.

"What?" Rachel asked, uncertainly.

"Well, Quinn was like obsessed with Finn, but Finn told her he wouldn't date her unless they fucked. So she stopped her whole 'waiting until marriage' plan thing and then he dumped her after. Then, they've dated on and off since then. But when they're off, they're still fuck buddies because there's no way Finn would pass on that ass just because he wasn't with the girl," he replied truthfully, his drunkenness making him spill things out that Finn's girlfriend probably shouldn't know.

Rachel took in what she had heard and was appalled. Her Finn had done that? She knew it was in the past though, so she wasn't going to allow herself to be angry about it. It wasn't fair to Finn, whom had certainly changed since then.

"Um, ok, Sam, do you want me to get you some water to sober yourself up?" Rachel asked hesitantly.

But Sam just kept rambling on about Finn and Quinn. "And even though you guys are dating now, Quinn's still trying to get with Finn. I mean, she calls and texts him constantly. And man, I've seen some of those texts! Woo, let me tell you, I know she didn't learn how to take some of those pictures at Catholic school."

Wait a second. This skank was sending him inappropriate texts and she didn't know about it? Was he not telling her because he was scared of what she'd do or because he was cheating on her? Her heart pounded and she felt her lip start to tremble—something that always happened when she was about to cry. Her throat closed and she felt a little dizzy. Before she could fall though, Sam caught her arm.

"W-what's wrong, pretty lady?" Sam asked.

"Nothing Sam, do you know where Finn is?" she asked, holding back her tears.

"Erm, I don't know, but his room is the first one upstairs, on the left. It says Hudson on the door," Sam sighed, "You have really soft hair, you know?"

"Thanks Sam," she sighed.

Hopefully, Finn would come back to his room to look for her, but when he found her, she wasn't sure he was going to like what she had to say.

* * *

><p>Finn frantically looked through the many bodies of dancing people, but couldn't find his sexy midget girlfriend anywhere. There were at least four Catwomans at this party. (Of course, none of them held a candle to Rachel...)<p>

He checked every room downstairs, but couldn't find her. What if something had happened to her? What if Puck came with his mob friends and kidnapped her? They could be raping her or beating her or torturing her now, but he couldn't reach her because she gave her phone to him.

Fuck this girl made him such a drama queen.

When he saw Brittany and Santana sandwiching some lucky guy, he let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. They must know where she is!

"Santana," he called, making his way to her, "Do you know where Rachel is?"

"¿Cómo podría haberla perdido?Tu eres un gilipollas! Que te den! Que te den! Que te den! Hijo de puta!" Santana started yelling

"I-i don't understand?" Finn sighed—understatement of the century. What happened to those four years of Spanish in high school?

"Finn, it's OK, just ignore her when she talks in Spanish," Brittany said, "When Santana get's really mad, there's another little person inside of her that just gets set off! I call her Snix—Spanish Snix! Because she always talks in Spanish when she's angry. Her words are called Snix juice, well, I call them that. Anyway, she loves Rachel like a lot, so she's mad that you lost her, so now Snix has taken over and we can't get Santana back until we find Rachel! I do like having sex with Snix sometimes though because she gets a little more aggressive than San, so if I'm in the mood for really really really really really rough sex, I always make Santana a cup of black coffee because that really sets her off too! And turns her into Snix!"

The boy sandwiched in between them looked frightened, but also elated at the thought of the girls having sex. Finn shook his head and asked the guy, "Hey, kid, have you seen a really short brunette girl? She's dressed as Catwoman?"

"Oh, yeah right on dude, she's a hottie," the guy laughed, "I saw her talking to the big-mouthed blonde guy, um, Sam, right?"

Finn almost squealed—Sam would know where she was! "Thank you so much dude!"

He looked around and spotted Sam chatting with some girl by one of the kegs. Wow, he looked completely trashed and stoned.

"Sam," he yelled, making his way toward him, "Hey, have you seen Rachel?"

"Yep," Sam mumbled, "We were just talking and I told her that she could probably meet you in your room."

"Great, thanks," Finn called before running through the crowd and up the stairs.

He opened his door and was surprised at what he found.

"Um, hi," he said nervously, "What's going on in here?"

* * *

><p>Rachel frowned when she realized this was only the second time she had been in his dorm. Why did they always hang out at her apartment? Was he ashamed of her? Was he hiding her from Quinn? She shook her head, she couldn't doubt him, at least not until she heard his side of the story.<p>

"So your his new whore," a nasally voice broke her out of her thoughts.

She turned around and her frown became deeper when she took in the model-like girl—woman-standing in front of her. This must be Quinn.

"I'm actually his girlfriend," Rachel snarled, "And you're the skank who's been throwing yourself at him every chance you can get."

"Quinn Fabray, it's my displeasure to meet you," Quinn snarked, putting her hand out in mock gesture. She quickly took it back as if touching Rachel would be disgusting. "I didn't realize Finn liked cross-dressers, RuPaul."

Rachel took in her Catwoman costume and felt embarrassed. She took in Quinn's appearance and compared it to her own frame. Quinn was a gorgeous blonde "rocking" a Playboy bunny outfit that left little to be imagined. Rachel on the other hand looked like a cross between a hobbit and a fat cat.

"Rachel Berry," Rachel glared, "Look, I understand Finn and you have history, but I would appreciate if you respect that we're together now."

"Please, you think this is going to last?" Quinn sighed, "It took me a week to get him to break up with his high-school sweetheart of three and a half years. You think I won't be able to stop a little one month relationship?"

"I'm not saying you couldn't," Rachel muttered softly, so Quinn couldn't hear, "Look, I'm just hoping you'll keep within the boundaries of an ex-girlfriend. If you want to be his friend, go ahead, but the nude pictures need to stop."

"He told you about those?" Quinn smirked taking in Rachel's guilty expression, "Oh, so he didn't. Poor you, it must be hard, imagining your boyfriend getting off thinking about me instead of you."

"Back off, Quinn," Rachel hissed.

"I'm going to tell you this for your own good: Finn and I belong together. We're just _that _couple. One day, once this little fling between you and him is over, we'll get back together. I just hope that you aren't _too _destroyed in the process. Finn does have the habit of breaking girls' hearts," Quinn sneered.

Rachel opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by said boy.

"Um hi, what's going on in here?" he asked.

"Nothing Finny," Quinn sauntered up to him, "I'm just telling Rachel how lucky she is to have such a sexy man like you around. A bunch of girls would _kill _for that." With that, she planted a kiss on his cheek—leaving a bright red lipstick mark on his face—and walked out.

And then Rachel just snapped.

* * *

><p>"Rachel, there's nothing going on with me and Quinn, I promise," he croaked, taking in her majorly pissed off face. It kind of reminded him of the first time they met and he had been a douche to her.<p>

"Then why didn't you tell me about all of her texts and calls?" Rachel replied, trying to contain herself and not yell.

"I didn't want to hurt you. I didn't even look at them. And I didn't want you to think there was anything going on between us," Finn said.

She laughed bitterly, "Well that's just kind of hard to believe when you showed the pictures to Sam."

"W-what?" he asked, nervously. He knew it was a bad idea to tell Sam about Quinn—and show him some of those pictures. But he really wasn't lying to Rachel—nothing was going on between he and Quinn. It just looked bad.

"Yeah that's how I found out. In his stoned and drunken state, Sam told me the truth about Quinn and some of the of the others truths about your past," Rachel drawled.

"Look, I swear I'm not that guy anymore, trust me. I've changed," he said pleadingly. He didn't know what Sam had actually told her, but he knew that there was a lot of messed of shit in his past that he didn't want Rachel hearing from Sam. This is exactly why he didn't want to bring her—

Rachel stopped his train of thought, "Is this why you never take me around all of your friends? Are you ashamed of me, of us? Do you not want them to see how you are with me?"

Well shit, she couldn't think that. "No, no, no, no, Rachel, it's nothing like that."

"Then what is it? Am I just one of your many flings?" Rachel yelled, her eyes watering. He felt like she had punched him. She just, she couldn't think she was like any other girl he's dated.

"Rachel," he started, and then all hell broke loose.

"Finn!" he heard Rory's Irish accent come into the room, "Cops are out front, you need to get out of here."

"Shit," Finn yelled, "Rachel, come on, I know you're mad, but we need to get out of here."

She huffed, but said nothing as he grabbed her hand and pulled her down the stairs. He paled when he heard the threatening knock on the front door. The music had been shut down and all one could see was frantic underage college students running out of the frat, and older ones hiding their bags of cocaine and pot.

When he saw Sam passed out on the floor, he realized that he couldn't just leave him there. "Rachel, go outside, I'm going to get Sam."

"What?" Rachel glared, "Why?"

"Look, he's obviously stoned and he most likely has some stuff on him. He kind of has a record when it comes to possession, but he's been let off before. If they find him like this, he's screwed," he sighed, grabbing one of Sam's arms and wrapped it around his back.

"What do you need me to do?" Rachel asked. He knew she was still mad, but he thought it was awesome that she still wanted to help him.

"Go outside and wait for me on the deck. Also, can he stay at your place?" Finn asked.

"Fine," she glared and ran outside through the back doors.

Once Finn had grabbed his incredibly heavy friend, he made his way outside. He saw some cops rounding up a few kids and ran a little faster toward the doors. He got outside and smiled when he saw Rachel, standing there waiting for him. He thought she might run away or something.

They walked in silence for a little bit and then Finn decided to get a cab. "This doesn't mean your off the hook, you know," Rachel huffed as Finn hailed a taxi.

"Yeah, but it means I can't sleep on the couch tonight, right?" he grinned hopefully.

"No, you'll be on the floor," she snapped.

Once he forced a still out Sam, he sat in the cab. "Come on Rachel, you need to hear me out," he said.

"We can talk about it when we get home. I'm still hurt." She turned away from him and he threw his head back against his seat.

How was he going to fix this?

* * *

><p>Rachel was infuriated with Finn...But at the same time, she was incredibly flustered with herself for being so turned on by his knight-in-shining armor act (with Sam, but still).<p>

On one hand, she wanted to yell at him until he was begging for mercy. But on the other hand, she wanted to kiss the memory of that slut Quinn's lipstick off of his face and remind him just how lucky he was to have her. It was all so confusing, really.

She did want to know why they never hung out at the frat, but she figured it was something to protect her and not a malicious reason. Ugh, screw it she wanted to ravish his Batman-coustume-clad body as soon as they got home.

She hated having such a sexy boyfriend.

When they got home, she quickly got some extra blankets and a pillow from her room to put on the couch. She set them up and held back a smile when Finn carefully laid his friend down on the couch.

Why was he so sweet and handsome?

He kept his head down as they went to her bedroom. He started getting stuff for sleeping on the floor, when Rachel stopped him.

"I changed my mind," she said.

He smirked, "Just couldn't resist me, huh?"

She frowned, "Don't test your luck." But secretly, she knew he was true.

He changed out of his costume and just in his boxers and Rachel's mouth watered. Trying to torture him just a bit, she slowly pulled her tight body suit off. His pupils dilated and she shimmed a bit just for the added effect.

He strode over to her, grabbed her in just her bra and panties, and huskily said, "You fucking tease."

She gasped, she loved the dirty talk. She pulled him by his hair and grabbed him toward her face. They kissed like that for awhile, until Finn picked her up by her ass and threw them on the bed.

So yeah, she forgave him without complaint that night.

* * *

><p>When Sam woke up the next morning, he was confused. Where the hell was he? Before he could get up, the pounding in his head intensified and he had to lay back down. What had happened last night?<p>

"Here," said a cute brunette coming up to him. She handed him a few advil and some orange juice. He smiled gratefully as he took the pills and chugged the juice. Who was this girl? Did they hook up?

Wait, no it was coming back to him. She was Rachel, the girl Finn was crazy about.

Oh no, did they sleep together? That would kill Finn. He felt so guilty he almost puked, but of course, that could have been the hangover talking.

"No, Sam, you guys didn't sleep together," Finn smiled coming into the living room.

"Oh, ok, well, um, what happened?" Sam asked.

"The cops came so I took your drunk ass away. You had like two bags of pot on you man. You can't get busted for possession again," Finn said.

Rachel tensed, not liking the drug talk, and said, "I'll go set the table. I made you some breakfast, well all of us some breakfast." She walked to the kitchen and started putting some food on the counter. Sam noticed stacks of pancakes and syrup and smiled.

"She's a keep, Finn," Sam said.

Finn stared at her dreamily, "Yeah...I know. Here, I found one of my shirts here from the first time I stayed over. You need to get dressed."

Sam went to the bathroom and splashed some water on his face. He looked outside the window and was flashed with a weird sense of deja vu. Had he been in this city before? That must be it. He put on Finn's shirt, and thanked whoever was up there that he was wearing sweatpants as part of his costume last night.

He exited the bathroom, only to see Finn and Rachel cutely tickling each other and planting tiny kisses on each other's lips. He sighed, he wanted something like that. A relationship that actually meant something.

They broke apart when Sam came into the kitchen. Breakfast was fun, filled with laughter and teasing. When it was over, Sam realized that he had a class at noon, so he had to get back.

"Sorry guys, I got to take off," Sam said.

"Awh," Rachel said, she got up from the table and hugged him, "It was great meeting you, even in these unusual circumstances."

Someone knocked at the door, and Rachel quickly ran to answer it.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Sam heard Rachel said.

Then, a familiar voice that made his heart ache said, "Sorry to bother you, but can Sammy and me stay here, just for a night or two? My apartment building has a major leak, and they're actually getting someone to fix it for once."

"Of course, Cedes!" Rachel grinned brightly, "I'll clean out my bedroom and you guys can stay there."

When she stepped inside with a little boy who looked about three, Sam's heart pounded and he felt his breath knocked out of him.

"Mercedes?" he choked.

"Sam?" Mercedes asked.

He felt dizzy and he knew it wasn't the hangover this time, it was because of the woman standing here in front of him. And was that her son?

"How do you guys know each other?" Rachel asked.

Before he could respond, Mercedes calmly replied, "Oh it's not a very _long _story."

* * *

><p>AN: Sorry to end it there, but this chapter was long enough, agreed? I know I haven't updated in awhile, but I hope this long chapter makes up for it. This is actually the longest chapter I've ever written for any of my stories (I think?). Hope you enjoyed it! No Puck in this chapter, but a new villan was introduced. Like I said before, I love redemption, so don't get too angry at me for making Quinn a total bitch. Did you guys like the Brittana stuff? I absolutely adore writing Brittany and I hope I did her some justice! DID YOU SEE "SMOOTH CRIMINAL?" HONESTLY I LOVE BRITTANA WITH A PASSION, BUT SEBASTIAN/SANTANA OH MY GOD CHEMISTRY! LOVE IT!

Anyway, please review!

BYE


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6 "We Found Love in a Hopeless Place"

Rachel stood, confused, in her living room.

"Oh it's not a very long story," Mercedes said, "Sammy, why don't you go play with your trucks in the bedroom. Aunt Rachel said we could stay here."

"OK, mama," Sammy said and went to the bedroom.

"What's going on, guys?" Finn asked.

"Why'd you leave?" Sam asked, finally regaining his voice.

"Oh please, you were going to kick me out anyway," Mercedes glared, "Don't you dare pin what happened on me!"

"I wasn't!" Sam said, honestly, "I wanted to hang out with you and I don't know, keep hanging out with you or something."

"I heard you talking to Finn, Sam. You told him you were just about finished with your girl for the night and that you could go to lunch with him later," Mercedes swallowed, as if reliving a horrific memory.

"I was just telling him that so he wouldn't be on my back about liking a girl I slept with for more than sex! I told you stuff I've never told anyone else, that night Mercedes, I wasn't planning on kicking you out!"

"OK, this is very dramatic and all, and yes, I love drama, but can you clue Finn and me in?" Rachel asked.

"Wait, was this at that rush party at the beginning of the school year? She was that girl that you hung out with the whole night and then disappeared with afterwords. She's the only one you've ever introduced to me," Finn sighed, scratching his head.

"So you weren't going to kick me out?" Mercedes asked.

"Of course not," Sam said, "I fell for you that night, Merc, and I was just being a douche with Finn by trying to get him out of my room."

Rachel say Sam's eyes light up asif he realized something and he suddenly looked pale, "W-what did that kid call you?"

Mercedes tough exterior cracked and Rachel noticed. And then Rachel realized what was going on. "I'm his mother, Sam," Mercedes stammered, "And his name is Samuel, well, Sammy."

Sam was speechless, and Finn broke the silence by asking, "So what happened? I'm still confused."

Rachel smirked at her boyfriend and said, "I'll explain. Let's go play with Sammy in the bedroom."

Finn nodded, happy to get out of the awkward situation that was occurring in Rachel's front room.

Once they were gone, Mercedes walked closer to Sam, "He's three years old, Sam."

"So, so, so he's my son?" Sam asked nervously, but with a trace of hopefulness.

Mercedes sighed, "Yes, Sammy is your son."

"Why didn't you tell me, Mercedes?" Sam asked, tearing up because of the fact that he realized he had a son.

Mercedes replied, "I couldn't, Sam. I didn't want you to be tied to me because of a kid, and when I left, I figured you had forgotten about me. I didn't want to call you and let you think I was just some clingy girl begging for a chance with you after one night together. It was stupid, I know, but I also was incredibly mad at you because I thought you were just going to kick me out."

"That isn't really your choice, Mercedes, since he is my son," Sam stated.

"Look, I know I should have told you, but what would have happened then, Sam? I mean, you would have kept me around for a little bit, maybe, until you could gather enough courage to tell your dad who could then pay me off. Or, even worse, you'd try to take my kid from me," Mercedes yelled, "I was a scared eighteen year old college student who was struggling figuring out how to pay for NYU on top of paying for all the doctor visits. You can't attack me after you're the reason I didn't tell you."

"I wouldn't have done anything like that to you," Sam said, sincerely, "You're the only girl I've ever had that much of a connection with, still to this day, I think about you constantly."

Then, Sammy came running out, laughing and giggling. "Mama! Finn looks like a dino-soor," he squealed.

Sam's eyes watered as he looked at the perfect little three year old running around.

Mercedes smiled, "And did you see Aunt Rachel next to him? Doesn't she look like an ant?"

"Bug!" Sammy laughed, and then looked at Sam, "Who that?"

"Uh, uh, that's Sam Evans," Mercedes said.

"Sam? I'm Sam!" the child laughed.

"Sam I am, and I don't like green eggs and ham," Sam joked, earning more laughter from Sammy and a little smile from Mercedes.

"He's mommy's friend," Mercedes said.

"Like Shane?" Sammy asked.

Mercedes paled and sighed, "Not really. Sweetie, Sam is actually your daddy." She figured she needed to just rip it of like a bandaid.

"Really? A da-da?" Sammy squealed.

"Yeah baby, a da-da," Mercedes said, tears pooling in her eyes.

Sammy suddenly ran and hugged Sam as tight as possible. Sam looked like he was on the verge of tears—again! Rachel and Finn, sensing the moment, decided to stay in the bedroom.

"Do you think I can take you guys out for the day or something?" Sam said, scooping Sammy up and grinning widely.

Mercedes hesitated, but agreed, "I think that would be an amazing idea, Sam Evans."

"Great, I've been dying to go to the Bronx Zoo forever!" Sam cried like a child, "What's your favorite animal, buddy?"

"I like giraffes!" Sammy happily said.

Sam knew he had missed out way to much with Sammy's life, but he wasn't going to let that stop him from being the best dad ever from now on. He knew he was blowing off class, but whatever, his newly discovered child was important. Yes, there was a lot of talking still to be done with Mercedes, and he really wanted to know more about this Shane guy, but for now, as he held his perfect kid and was next to the girl he had loved for three years, he was pretty content.

* * *

><p>Three weeks later, on one of Rachel's only days off and a day of no classes for him, they were just hanging out together, laying on his bed, doing some (A LOT) of making out, and just talking. Finn didn't know how the little brunette had weaved herself in his heart, but she did and he wasn't complaining. He thought they were getting really serious, and that meant that it was time for her to meet his family. Speaking of which...<p>

"So, are you still just hanging out alone on Thanksgiving?" Finn asked.

"Yes. San and Britt are doing some weird anti-Thanksgiving day celebration that they've been doing for awhile because Britt is afraid of turkeys...And me, well I'm probably just going to make myself a simple dinner, nothing fancy. Last year I made a tofurkey, but of course, I wasn't going to be alone then."

"Think again, Ms. Rachel Berry because you are not going to be alone for Thanksgiving!" Finn exclaimed.

"What? What happened to going to spend Thanksgiving with your mother?" Rachel asked.

"Still going, but I want you to come with me! I talked to my mom about it, and she's dying to meet you. And, I mean, I want you to meet her, too! And her boyfriend, Burt is awesome. I guess he's kind of my unofficial step dad, but my dad won't let her get a divorce until the election is over...Oh, and my grandad and grandma are going to be there, since it is their house..." Finn blabbered, nervously, gauging her reaction.

"Calm down, Finn!" Rachel giggled, "I would love to go with you, but I don't want to intrude."

"Please, you aren't intruding. It's just going to be me, mom, grandad, grandma, Burt, and his son," Finn said, "And maybe his son's boyfriend."

"I mean, I am off from rehearsals this whole week...OK, when do we leave?" Rachel asked excitedly.

"Tomorrow?" Finn replied.

"Tomorrow? Oh my goodness, I need to get packing!" Rachel said, starting to stand up to have Finn drive her home (he didn't like her taking a cab or the subway ever, even in the afternoon).

Finn laughed and pulled her back to him, "Hell no, Rachel. I've got you alone all day with no distractions whatsoever. You can pack tonight, maybe, if I let you. I don't know, you really don't have to bring any clothes at all."

"Yes because meeting your mother in my birthday suit would be classy," Rachel quipped, trying to stand right back up.

"Who said anything about swimming? I just want you naked, preferably all the time, with me," Finn sighed, running a hand along her back, making her shiver just the way he wanted to.

"I guess I could stay just a little longer," Rachel drawled.

Finn growled and from there on, Rachel didn't end up leaving at all that night.

Oh well, Finn would let her pack in the morning.

* * *

><p>Rachel nervously twiddled her thumbs as the forty-five minute drive dragged on. Finn's mother's family lived in Alpine, New Jersey, so even though it wasn't too far from Manhattan (not counting traffic, which made it longer), it felt like forever. She wasn't dreading the weekend, not at all, she was just nervous.<p>

She hoped Carole like her. Finn spoke the world of her, and if she didn't like Rachel, it wouldn't be good. She sounded like such a nice woman, much more appealing than Finn's father, whom Finn wasn't on the best of terms with.

"You excited?" Finn asked with that lopsided grin that made her legs melt.

"Yes," Rachel replied simply, still freaking out about meeting his mom.

"Hey, if you're comfortable with this yet, I can drive you home," Finn said sadly.

"No, no, no! Finn, I really want to meet you mom! It's just, what if she doesn't like me?" Rachel asked.

"Babe, you're incredibly amazing, gorgeous, smart, talented, et cetera, so why wouldn't she like you. Whatever, she's going to love you because I love you," Finn said, then realized what he had said.

"Wait, you love me?" Rachel squeaked, her heart thumping incredibly fast.

"Forget I said that!" Finn stammered.

"Why? Do you not really feel that way?" Rachel sighed, tears pooling in her eyes.

"Shit, no. Crap. I wanted to do this with like some sort of grand gesture or something. You told me how you like big displays of affection, so I was going to have a picnic or something or sing for you..." Finn sighed, "And now that's ruined and this moment isn't romantic at all and you don't love me back because I'm an idiot who can't even say 'I love you' properly and now I'm rambling and I'm just going to turn around 'cos this is probably the part where you break up with me..."

"Finn," Rachel cut him off, "Can you stop mumbling for just a second? I think you're incredibly adorable, Finn Hudson, and I love you, too."

"Really?" Finn choked.

"Of course! Now, pay better attention to the road, you almost ran into that mail truck."

Finn silently mumbled, "Why is it always the civil servants?"

"What, Finn?" Rachel asked.

"Oh nothing," Finn said uncomfortably, and Rachel giggled.

She smiled at the man in the seat next to her and felt happy, complete. She really was in love with him and she was happy they both professed their love to one another. She wasn't nervous anymore about the trip, just excited about the prospect of taking this monumental step in their relationship.

But meeting his mom got her thinking about him meeting her dads, which then made her chest hurt painfully. She missed them so much and longed for the day when their silence was broken. They would have loved Finn and she knew that he probably wouldn't have a chance to meet them. She just couldn't gather up the courage to pick up the phone and give them a call. They probably hated her now...

She shook her head and smiled timidly when Finn told her they were only ten minutes away.

Ten minutes later, they had arrived, but she thought that at least five of those minutes were spent getting through the gates to get into the community where the home rested. According to Finn, the new gated community feature of the area was relatively new.

His family's "house," if that's what one could call it, took the term "mansion" to the extreme. It was absolutely gorgeous, with impressive stone outer walls and traces of ivy running up to the roof. The home was the biggest Rachel had ever seen (in real life).

"Wow," Rachel breathed.

"It's kind of a lot to take in. It's pretty over the top," Finn sighed, "But my grandma and wanted it to be a place where their kids and grandkids could come together...Unfortunately, they only had to kids and my Uncle Charlie passed away before he had kids and my mom only had me, so the space is way to big for us. I think they would sell it if it they thought they actually could."

"It's very beautiful," Rachel commented as the car neared the front of the house.

They pulled in through the gate (another gate?) and Finn parked in the circle drive.

Finn and Rachel got their two bags out and walked toward the door.

Finn took Rachel's hand in his and whispered, "Ready?"

She nodded and smiled.

She was ready.

* * *

><p>Finn wiped his sweaty hands on his pants as he knocked on the obnoxiously large door.<p>

"Hey mom," he grinned when his mother opened the door.

"My Finny!" she cried and grabbed him inside for a big hug.

Finn was about to pull away to introduce her to Rachel, but his mother was one step ahead of him.

"And this must be Rachel. God, she's gorgeous Finn!" Carole smiled, grabbing a nervous looking Rachel and hugging her too.

"Mom, let her breath," Finn warned.

"So this is the girl Finn's been calling his us about everyday," Burt, his pseudo-step dad, said entering the foyer.

"Burt!" Finn exclaimed, hugging (a manly hug of course) him.

Carole and Burt had been living together for a few months and had had an established relationship for a year, but there had been something between him for awhile. Burt moved out to New York two years ago when his son started college in New York. They met randomly in the store one day and became friends from there. Finn was introduced to Kurt and they've been like brothers ever since. And now, Carole and Burt were dating.

"Mr. Hummel?" Rachel suddenly asked.

"Rachel Berry?" Burt smiled, "Oh wow, it's really you! I can't believe the coincidence."

"If it isn't my rugged brother?" he heard Burt's son, Kurt calling.

Finn ignored him, too concentrated on what was transpiring between Rachel and Burt. How'd they know each other?

"Kurt, look who it is!" Burt boomed, grabbing Rachel for a hug, "It's the daughter I never had back from the dead!"

"Rachel?" Kurt whispered, looking at her like she was a ghost.

"Kurt," Rachel replied simply, tears forming in her eyes.

"This is the girl your dating?" Kurt asked Finn.

He nodded, still confused.

"Oh my gaga!" Kurt said, crying and rushing over to her. He grabbed her and started peppering kisses all over her cheeks, "Rachel Barbra Berry, don't ever leave me like that again! I was worried sick! And your dads had no idea where you were! Why didn't you tell me?"

"I know, I know, I was an idiot. And selfish," Rachel said through sobs, "But I didn't even know you were going to be in New York! What happened to University of Michigan?"

"That's what I was going to tell you on grad day, but you took off after the ceremony with just a tight hug and an 'I love you, Kurt,'" Kurt replied, "I was deferred from Parsons as you remember, but then a few days before our graduation, I got my acceptance letter! It was great and I was going to surprise you at the Hummel-Berry dinner party, but you left before it!"

"I know, and wait a second, is that Blaine Anderson?" Rachel gasped, "Oh my goodness, it is!"

Blaine walked over, smiling, "And it's _the _Rachel Berry! Just as beautiful as ever, I'm sure still with the best voice I've ever heard—sorry Kurt, honey, you're a close second."

They hugged and Rachel cried even harder, with Blaine tearing up too.

Finn was just plain old confused—so this was her gay best friend from high school she always talked about?

"I am so happy you guys are together!" Rachel exclaimed, "I mean, I was certain you guys would go the distance, but then you guys broke up because of the college situation!"

"Yeah, well, we met up again since we were both in New York, surprise surprise, and things just kind of went on from there," Kurt smirked, "And look!" He showed her his wedding finger, with a simple gold band on it.

"Oh my gosh, you guys are not engaged!" Rachel yelled happily.

"Getting married this summer! And now that you're back in my life, I have my maid of honor! Poor Tina is going to be so disappointed," Kurt cried.

"OK guys, I love that you guys are friends and all, but can someone explain what's going on?" Finn asked.

"I second that," Carole said.

"And where are grandma and grandad?" Finn asked.

"Oh they're getting some more food at the store, they'll be back in a bit," Carole sighed, "How about we take this into the living room and I'll have Ruby make us some lunch. I would have had it already prepared, but Finny, you didn't text me when you were leaving like you were supposed too."

"Sorry, I was a little tied up," Finn said, crimson red looking at Rachel.

Yeah, he was distracted because he was eating out of his girlfriend that morning, but who cares.

"Wait a second, if you two are dating, that means no innuendos about what guys do sexually. You both are practically my siblings, so this is kind of like incest," Kurt said dramatically.

"I think you guys make a lovely couple," Blaine quipped, shutting Kurt up.

"Thank you very much, Blaine," Rachel said, as she and Finn sat down.

Finn grasped her hand and he swore he felt that weird tingle he did every time he touched her—he swore it every time, but it was still crazy to him each time.

"So Rachel, Finn tells us you're on an off-Broadway show, that's incredible!" Carole gushed, looking at Finn pointedly. Oh crap, he knew exactly what she was thinking—keep this girl or else.

"It's a great opportunity. I really love _Once_and my cast mates are amazing," Rachel replied.

"Wait, you're on _Once_? Isn't that the show Sebastian's doing, Kurt?" Blaine asked.

Kurt darkened, "Oh yes, the great Sebastian." Yes, he knew Sebastian. He went to NYU with Blaine and always seemed to be around...

"He's pretty amazing," Rachel sighed.

"Oh yes I know! And with that smirk," Blaine said.

"I think he has horse teeth," Kurt snapped.

"I'm with you, Kurt," Finn said. So he met the prick once and even though Rachel said he was gay, he wasn't so sure he wasn't interested in his girlfriend.

"Thank you, finally someone understands..." Kurt drawled.

"Oh you know I only have eyes for you, Kurt," Blaine smiled and leaned over to give Kurt a quick peck on the lips.

"When's your opening day?" Carole asked, "We'd love to come down for it if possible. Finny just raves about how wonderful you are!"

"Thank you, Carole, that's so sweet of you! It's December 7th," Rachel smiled.

"Eleven days before your birthday," Finn reminded her. He was so pumped for her birthday. He had some ideas, but he had to run them by Santana, since, as she put it, "he was an idiotic orca with no mental capabilities whatsoever."

She blushed and ducked her head down.

"Oh yay, now that I've found you I can buy the presents I've wanted to get you the last two years!" Kurt smiled.

"You really don't have to do that, Kurt," Rachel softly said.

"Please, the Rachel Berry I know would be demanding double that!" Kurt laughed.

"Luckily, I've changed just a little bit," Rachel laughed.

"You don't need to change at all," Finn said.

"Thank you sweetie, but I really was horrid in high school," Rachel sighed, "I once sent a girl to a house of crack-addicts because she was going to join my glee club." She whispered the last part, though, obviously because she didn't want his mom to hear. He thought it was hilarious, though, not bad.

"Lunch is ready!" he heard Ruby, their main maid, shout from the kitchen.

"And I think I just head my dad and mom walk in," Carole said.

The group walked to the kitchen, where he saw his grandad and grandma already waiting for them.

"Grandma! Grandad!" Finn smiled and walked over to hug them.

His grandad was great! Really, the best, but his grandmother...She was interesting. Sometimes grandma got a little demanding of him when it came to marriage and stuff, but other than that, they were pretty cool.

"My baby boy," his grandma smiled.

"Guys, I'd like you to meet my girlfriend, Rachel Berry," he gestured over to Rachel, whom had stood up to greet them.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Rachel grinned.

"Likewise," his grandad smiled graciously and shook her hand. He winked at Finn and Finn cringed.

His grandma on the other hand shook Rachel's hand stiffly, as if she were touching someone diseased. Finn was confused, what was wrong with Rachel?

With that, lunch commenced and Finn sat by Rachel. He stroked her knuckles under the table as she chatted with the table.

"Broadway has been my dream for years, but for a while it felt like it wasn't going to happen," Rachel sighed, "Luckily, that's hopefully turning around."

"Isn't Broadway pretty demanding?" his grandma asked, "Would that leave time for children or your future husband?" She looked pointedly at Finn.

"Uh, well yes, Broadway can be very demanding," Rachel stammered, "But many other Broadway legends have maintained great families."

"But if your husband is working, like every man should do, to provide for the family, why should you waste your time with acting?" his grandma asked.

Finn glared. He knew his grandmother was pretty traditional, but to attack Rachel for not being like her was outrageous.

"I-i," Rachel stuttered.

"Look, grandma, Rachel is an incredible singer. She's not wasting her time by performing. It'd be a huge waste to the rest of the world if she didn't perform!" Finn cried.

"Plus, if she's the earner in the family, what's wrong with that?" Burt laughed.

"Oh we all know why you would say that, Burt," his grandma snapped.

"Mother!" Carole angrily yelled, "Would you stop harassing this lovely woman and my boyfriend?"

His grandma huffed, but complied.

"My fathers always said that gender lines in the workplace were ignorant," Rachel snarled.

"Of course, two fathers," his grandmother mumbled under her breath.

Finn knew that homosexuality was a sensitive topic for his conservative grandmother, but he truly thought she had gotten better about it when Burt started living there and by association, Kurt being there a lot to visit his dad. She said she loved Kurt, but Finn knew that she secretly wished he were straight. Well, that's just something she'd have to get over.

"So do you think you'll be here for Christmas?" Carole changed the subject.

"I think I might spend it with dad," Finn sighed.

"And Rachel, will you be visiting your fathers for the holiday?" Carole asked.

"Um actually no, I won't. Chanukah was never a very big deal in my family," Rachel lied. He knew she was just trying to exempt the fact that she wasn't on speaking terms with them any more.

"You're Jewish?" his grandmother croaked.

And that was another thing his grandmother was big on: religion.

Rachel was pretty much silent for the rest of lunch, while Kurt talked about his latest design challenge at school. (He wanted to be a fashion designer.) Finn looked at her worriedly. He hoped she didn't hate his family or anything just because his grandma was acting awful toward her. He would talk to his grandmother later, but his main priority was Rachel.

Also, all of this talk about marriage had him thinking about it with Rachel and that thought gave him a weird warm feeling inside.

He kinda wondered what their kids would look like...

* * *

><p>As Rachel laid down on the bed in the room she and Finn shared, she thought about Finn's grandmother. How dare she? How dare that old hag insult her about her line of work and her talent? She could take comments about her beauty or uptight personality, but insult her on her talent (which was the one thing she was certain about being better than everyone else) and it's not acceptable.<p>

And she also attacked her fathers! Yes, Rachel heard her little mumble under her breath. Not only did she attack their homosexuality, but she attacked her religion. She was Jewish and proud of it!

They went out to eat for dinner that night and luckily, his grandmother didn't join them. Rachel was upset. She really wanted "grandma" to like her! Adults normally loved her! Puck's mother literally planned her and Puck's wedding the moment Rachel stepped into the door of her house for the first time. (On a side note, Rachel dearly hoped that Mrs. Puckerman's deposit at the local temple had been returned since she and Puck were most certainly not getting married.)

Aside from the awful woman Finn called grandmother, the rest of his family was a delight. His grandad had the most hilarious stories and constantly complimented her on how beautiful she was. And his mother, goodness, his mother had already become like the mom Rachel never had! And Burt and Kurt were already family to her, so that was a no brainer.

She saw Finn emerge from the bathroom that was in their "suite." God, he only had a towel slung across his torso and Rachel wanted nothing more than to rip it off with her bare teeth and have her way with him.

When did she start having these naughty thoughts?

Rachel drooled when he took off the towel and put on his boxers.

"Like what you see, babe?" he smirked.

She shook her head, flustered. She was determined not to let him get to her, at least not while she was in the same vicinity as his mother. Once they got back to NYC, she was fully aware that they'd have sex (AS SOON AS POSSIBLE), but for now, she couldn't let it happen.

"No monkey business is happening, Finn. You're family is right down the hall," she glared.

"Are you serious, Rach?" he pouted, "We're pretty far away from them. It's a big house, you know?"

"No need for the condescending tone, Finn Hudson," she laughed.

"Baby I don't even know what 'condescending' means," Finn replied.

"Oo, what a turn on!" Rachel sarcastically said.

"I'll show you a turn on," Finn growled and hopped on the bed.

They were interrupted within minutes.

"Finn," Rachel heard the raspy (UGLY) voice of his grandmother by the door, "Would you like to have some tea with me?"

Finn looked at her as if he couldn't say no and said, "Sure, just give me a second to get dressed."

"Oh I'm sorry, I didn't interrupt anything, did I?" she cooed, "I just figured a real lady wouldn't dare proposition you with family in the house."

Rachel's face twisted in anger and Finn quickly got dressed. He shot her a look that said "I'm sorry" and bolted.

Ugh, this woman was going to be the death of her.

She decided to just go to sleep and ignore the nagging feeling about his godforsaken grandmother.

Unfortunately, that only lasted for an hour when she felt someone pushing her awake.

"Rach," Finn softly said.

"What, Finn?" she groaned.

"I'm sorry. I couldn't just say no to her, could I?" Finn asked.

"No, you're right. Now can I just go back to sleep? Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and I'm sure I'm going to have to hear about how awful I am some more, so I'd like to at least be rested for that," Rachel snapped.

"OK, so yeah, she's kind of difficult," Finn replied.

"Difficult? She tore apart everything about me!" Rachel sneered.

"But come on, the rest of my family loved you! My mom probably adopt you if that weren't totally creepy because she loves us together, my grandad kind of has the hots for you, my step-brother already knows you, as does Burt, so see, they all love you! And it doesn't matter what my grandmother thinks because I love you," Finn said, stroking her hair affectionately.

"I don't think I'll ever get tired of hearing you say that," Rachel sighed, "God, I love you, too. But I am determined to make that woman like me!"

"Rachel...She's got her own twisted idea of who she wants me to be with! I mean, she invited me to tea just to talk to me about how she saw Harmony at some store when she was up in NYC for an event and wants us to have lunch or something," Finn laughed, then realized what he had said.

"She did what?" Rachel angrily cried. She was furious. How could that old bitch do that? Rachel knew she wasn't as gorgeous as other girls, but Finn loved her for some reason. Why would his grandmother try to ruin that? "What'd you say?"

"Well, I obviously said no, but she is probably going to keep pestering me about it tomorrow." Finn rubbed his neck and Rachel knew he was nervous.

"How does she even know Harmony? I didn't know you two were super serious, I mean it was high school," Rachel snapped.

"Her family vacationed with my family in the Hamptons," Finn sighed, embarrassed, "And my whole family—mom's side and dad's side—came down for that. Harmony's family had the house next to ours every summer."

"Oh yes, I'm sure Harmony is incredibly perfect," Rachel growled.

"No, no, no, Rachel my feelings for her aren't even comparable to how I feel for you. And I dated her for a lot longer than you," Finn said.

"I just, I don't get why she doesn't like me, Finn," Rachel bit her lip, "Just tell me what she wants of a Finn Hudson girlfriend and I'll be it!"

"Rachel, I don't want you to be like that," Finn said honestly.

She smiled, but shook her head, "Just tell me why she doesn't like me, Finn. She must of told you when you had tea with her just now."

Finn rubbed his neck again. There, that meant there was something he wasn't telling her. "Rach...She just, she's super snobby and traditional! I mean, she thinks you're some kind of gold digger or something."

"How would she even know my income or how much my dads make!" Rachel asked, confused.

"She kinda did a background check on you apparently...This is what she just told me, I had no idea beforehand," Finn stated.

"That's incredibly inconsiderate of my privacy! So what if I didn't come from a super wealthy family?" Rachel yelled.

"I know, I know. And I don't care about any of that, but my grandmother does, and that's part of the reason she's being so viscous with you."

"What else? Am I not pretty enough?" Rachel questioned, worriedly.

"Rachel, you're literally the most beautiful girl ever, so stop fishing for compliments," Finn joked.

"I think you just tell that to every girl," Rachel quipped.

"Nope, only one," Finn smiled.

Rachel kissed his lips chastely, but that soon turned into something a little more aggressive.

"When," Rachel breathed in between kisses, "we," she paused again, "get back home," she moaned as he hit her pulse point on her neck, "we are," she bit his neck, eliciting a loud groan from him, "having sex."

"Seriously?" Finn pulled away, heavily breathing.

She nodded quickly, shaking her messy hair up and down. She was pretty smug when she took in Finn's puffy lips and dazed eyes. The hickey forming on his neck was just a reminder to him just who he was with.

"OK, no more of that, at least not until we get back to the city," Rachel purred, "I can't have your family thinking I'm a total tramp."

"My grandma already does, so who cares," Finn laughed, but then when Rachel glared quickly shut up.  
>She pulled his arms around her and softly whispered, "Just quit while your ahead, Mr. Hudson."<p>

* * *

><p>Finn adjusted his tie again in preparation for Thanksgiving dinner. Breakfast was, to say the least, tense. His grandma kept shooting dark looks at Rachel, while Rachel kept glaring right back. After that, Finn managed to escape some of the tension by playing basketball with Burt, his grandad, and Blaine in the indoor basketball court.<p>

Rachel also avoided his grandmother while he was gone, choosing instead to watch old musicals in the small movie theater with Kurt and Carole. He was super excited that his mom and Rachel had formed such a connection. She and Rachel had already exchanged numbers just in case Rachel "needed someone to chat with" and vise versa. Carole had also already purchased tickets for she, Burt, Blaine, and Kurt for Rachel's opening day.

"Sweetie, let me fix it for you," Rachel grinned, taking his tie in hand and tying it properly.

"What would I do without you?" Finn smirked.

"I really don't know how you've lived so long Rachel-less," she smiled.

"As much as I enjoy you parading around in just your robe, I'm pretty sure that would have the opposite affect on impressing my grandmother," Finn said.

"Please, Finn, I have a very tasteful outfit planned for tonight," Rachel sighed, "Kurt's bringing it up now. He designed it himself, which delights me to no end since I've missed his planned outfits for me dearly."

"Is everyone decent?" he heard Kurt chirp from outside of the door.

"Of course," Rachel huffed, going over to unlock the door.

"Whatever, it'd be nothing I haven't seen before—for both of you," Kurt giggled.

Finn earned a questioning glance from Rachel with that statement.

"Is this it?" Rachel asked greedily, opening the garment bag in Kurt's hand.

"Nuh uh, uh, Finn leave the room first," Kurt hollered, "Your _lovely _grandmother is going to eat Rachel alive tonight, unless I prepare her. So get out."

"OK," Finn sighed, hanging his head low.

"Why does this totally remind me of junior prom with Jesse!" Kurt laughed.

Finn turned around, "Wait who's Jesse?"

"Leave!" Kurt yelled.

"OK, OK!" Finn growled.

He left, still confused. Why did Kurt have to pamper Rachel and who the fuck was Jesse?

An hour or so later, as Finn waited in the game room near he and Rachel's room, he heard Kurt's voice enter the room.

"Presenting, the ever so amazing Rachel Berry to one Finn Hudson," Kurt boomed.

Finn turned around and had to keep his mouth from falling flat on the floor.

Rachel looked beautiful, with a white, knee length dress that wasn't too revealing, but also revealed enough leg to make Finn go wild. Her makeup was simple and "conservative," and she wore short white heels. He knew that Kurt was trying to make her more appealing to his grandmother and less sexy to him, but he still found Finn junior pulsing in his pants just thinking about ripping it off of her. Preferably with his teeth...with some honey on her skin, just for good measure. He'd rip that dress to shreds and then pour some honey all over her smooth, silky skin. And then lick it right off, curling his tongue in all the right places that drove her wild.

Finn shook his head quickly, blinking a few times to bring himself back to realty and out of his sweet fantasy with his girlfriend. He'd have to run those ideas by Rachel later, but for now, he focused on getting her through this dinner without his grandma attacking her.

"Ms. Berry," he grinned, holding his arm out for her to take.

"Finn, you clean up nice," she smiled, that special smile reserved only for him.

"Meh, I know," he joked.

He led her down the stairs and through the rest of the house until they arrived at the dining room, where the family was waiting.

"Don't you look gorgeous in white," Carole commented, shooting a pointed look at Finn. Finn nodded uncomfortably while Rachel just smiled.

Rachel started to sit down, but Finn shook his head "no" at her. They _needed_to say grace first.

"Oh, if you're not comfortable saying thank you to God and Jesus, you know the Messiah, than you can just sit down," his grandmother glared.

Finn noticed Rachel's jaw clench, but she said no further as she continued standing.

After grace, they sat down. Finn saw Rachel eye some of the vegan supplements and she looked graciously at him. Finn had told the chef to subtly prepare some vegan alternatives for Rachel without letting his grandma know.

However, when passing around the turkey, his grandmother did notice when Rachel didn't take some. "What, do you not like what my staff has prepared?"

"No, no, of course not," Rachel said, twirling some of her hair nervously, "It's just, I'm actually a vegan."

"Of course you are. You do know that that's depriving your body of needed supplements, _sweetheart. _I'm only telling you this for your own good of course, but what is going to happen if you're ever pregnant? The baby won't get any nutrients. That's already bad parenting," his grandmother cackled.

"It's a different lifestyle, yes, but I do take vitamin supplements. And I don't understand how you can question my parenting abilities when I'm not even with child yet!" Rachel snapped, then gasped when she realized she had.

Finn inwardly let out a cry of victory for his girlfriend. "Yeah, grandma, Rachel's going to be like the best mom ever! She's always taking care of me," he smiled, "And I actually like some of the weird vegan stuff she eats. The soybeans give her nutrients, right babe?"

"Yes, Finn, they do," Rachel said excitedly.

He knew he had been right in defending her! She looked happy and super turned on, but back to the point...

"I'm just saying, Finn," his grandmother said, "Now, on with dinner!"

Dinner went on without any more outbursts like that. Rachel mainly chatted with Kurt and Blaine, while Finn distracted his grandmother. It worked all through dessert, until, well, it didn't anymore.

"The dinner was incredibly everyone, thank you for letting me join you guys," Rachel sweetly said, earning a peck on the cheek from Finn.

"It wasn't like we had any choice, _dear_. Finn forced you on us," his grandmother sneered.

He saw Rachel falter for a second, but then he saw her eyes blaze and her right eyebrow quirk just a bit. Oh no, she was about to give his grandmother hell and he couldn't stop it. When Rachel was like this she was like a wildfire heading through a forest. So he had to intervene.

"Rachel, how about we go talk, somewhere private," he said.

She tersely nodded, avoiding his eyes and ducking her head down. She followed him as he led her outside.

"I'm sorry, Finn, I almost snapped," she whimpered, tears forming in her eyes.

"Hey, hey, Rach, you have nothing to be sorry for! She's being awful in there and I need to talk to her about it," Finn sighed.

"You stood up for me," she grinned.

"Well I couldn't let her attack the woman I love." He cupped her cheek and kissed at her tearstained cheeks, as if easing away all of the pain. Finally, he reached her lips and planted a gently, reassuring kiss there as well. "Now, ready to go back in there?"

"Of course I am!" she replied firmly. They walked back hand in hand into the house and quietly sat back down at the table.

Carole flashed a deeply apologetic look toward Finn, but he shrugged it off. His grandmother was telling some story, but Finn could tell no one was paying attention.

He knew he was only paying attention to the beautiful, upset girl sitting next to him.

* * *

><p>"So I think that it went well?" Blaine joked as Rachel, Finn, Kurt, and he hung around in the bar room. The adults had all gone to bed, so Kurt decided to have a little "party" of their own.<p>

"Yeah, I didn't do a 'Rachel Berry Storm Out,'" Rachel laughed.

Blaine and Kurt laughed with her, but Finn looked a little confused. Rachel would tone down the memories from her past, so he didn't seem out of the loop.

"Well who cares what the old bat thinks!" Kurt slurred, having done a shot or two of tequila already.

"Let's go slow on the drinks, Kurt," Blaine cautioned.

"I've been reunited with my best friend of FOREVER, so we are going to party like it's the end of the world!" Kurt yelled, "Finn, did you know Blaine and Rachel dated?"

"Wait, what?" Finn asked.

"Yup, for like a day or two when Blaine thought he was bi! HAHA as if Blaine would like girls, no offense Rachel, seeing as I do identify more with females. They made out drunkenly at Rachel's tragic house party—that only the glee club showed up too—and went on a date after that!" Kurt laughed.

"That was a joke, Finn," Rachel blushed.

"Awh, are you belittling our time together, sweetie," Blaine quipped, "I do believe you told me my face tastes awesome."

"Never told me my face tastes awesome," Finn mumbled jealously.

Rachel glared, "Please Finn, the man is gay you don't need to be jealous!"

"So if he weren't gay you'd be saying his face was awesome on a daily basis?" Finn asked.

"Shut up, Finn Hudson," Rachel groaned, and then kissed him with as much passion she could muster. Finn responded quickly with warlike determination. She moaned into his mouth, earning a loud cough from both Kurt and Blaine.

"We get it!" Kurt drunkenly cried, "You're both turned on right now, but can you not do that in front of us!"

Rachel laughed and pulled away from Finn, taking a sip of her own virgin margarita.

Finn smirked dopely and said, "You can talk about Blaine and Rachel as much as you want as long as it always leads to kisses like that."

Rachel hit Finn on the shoulder softly, "You are deplorable."

"Aside from that PDA, we really have missed you, Rachel," Blaine sighed, "You're fathers were worried sick."

"Dreams clash," Rachel said solemnly, "And they wanted something completely different for me than I wanted."

"You could have gone somewhere other than Julliard," Blaine said, "NYU, University of Cincinnati, University of Michigan."

"I was young and naïve," Rachel huffed, "I only applied to Julliard, and then when my dads couldn't pay for it, they told me they secretly applied for me to go to Ohio State. I declined and then told them I'd just go to New York without college. They weren't happy, so I took off, as you know."

"Well everything is coming together now, Ms. Rachel Berry," Kurt replied, still tipsy.

Rachel felt that awful pang in her chest again, just thinking about her amazing dads. She missed them terribly. "Yeah, I guess it is."

Her voice quivered, and she knew Finn noticed.

"Hey guys, Rachel and I are going to go to bed," Finn said, "Night!"

"Don't let grandmother bite!" Kurt yelled back, as Finn led Rachel back up to their room.

When the arrived in the room, Rachel immediately broke down.

"Don't cry, baby," Finn cooed, rubbing her back.

"I just, I miss my dads so much!" Rachel cried, but then started wiping her eyes, "But, I'm fine, seriously I'm fine."

"Rachel," Finn started.

"No, Finn, really. Let's just go to bed," Rachel faked a smile and then went to the bathroom to remove her makeup and get ready for bed.

Once completely ready, she went back out to Finn, and smiled, "See, I'm fine!"

He wasn't convince, she could tell, but he said no more as he wrapped his arms around her. She sighed in his arms, feeling happy and safe, and for that moment, forgetting about how much she needed her fathers in her life again.

* * *

><p>Three days later, it was time for Rachel and Finn to head back to realty and return to NYC.<p>

Finn watched as Rachel and his mother hugged each other and even shed tears as Rachel said her goodbyes. Kurt and Blaine were leaving, too, but not until later that night, so he also watched as Kurt and Rachel literally clung to each other during that goodbye. Finn didn't get it—they had plans to meet up that Monday after Rachel's rehearsal—so why were they so dramatic. Ugh, girls...well, girls and gay guys.

He hugged his grandma and grandad, before moving onto his mom, who was already crying because of Rachel leaving.

"Now, Finn, don't let that girl go, OK," Carole said, "And don't be a stranger."

"I won't, I won't. I know I'm lucky to be with her," Finn smiled.

"Don't forget, she's lucky too," Carole warned, "That was the problem with your father and I. I always believed he was better than me, and well, he believed that, too, at times, which led to our divorce."

"Mom," Finn whined.

"OK, I'll stop for now, but I'm your mom, I'll never really stop," she smirked.

She started kissing him all over, going on about how much she was going to miss him (when they didn't live far away, but whatever) when he, ever so the momma's boy, said, "I'll miss you, too, mom, so much."

He hugged Burt, with whispered warnings that he take care of his mom when he and Rachel were ready to leave. Rachel had said goodbye to his grandad, and stiffly waved bye at his grandma.

"Thank you for letting me come with you, Finn," Rachel smiled, "Your family is pretty amazing."

"You're pretty amazing," he smirked.

"Pretty smooth, Mr. Hudson, pretty smooth," Rachel grinned.

"Only for you."

He smiled brightly as she took his hand in hers for the whole way home.

Yeah, it was a pretty good trip.

* * *

><p>AN: In which, Rachel Berry and Finn Hudson's grandmother hate each other...

Sorry for the little filler part with the bar scene...that's leading into the next chapter, I promise! Also, I apologize for how long this has taken to get posted! The Samcedes part is just kind of a cute scene...it doesn't play much into the storyline for Finchel at all, just saying.

Thank you for everything!

Chapter title belongs to Rihanna's (feat. Calvin Harris) "We Found Love"

AND OMG "ON MY WAY" WAS AMAZING!

Sorry, I need to stop before I start my actual fangirling...

Please review with your thoughts!


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